


Look or Look Away

by inspirante



Series: Of the Nine Hostages [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Sleep | Remy Sanders are Siblings, Blood, Coming Out, Creativitwins, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Twins, Dissociation, Implied Autistic Logan Sanders, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kid!Roman, Kidfic, Logan is a nerd, Logan is the youngest, Misgendering, Multi, Nanny!Patton, Nonbinary Sleep | Remy Sanders, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Protective Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Protective Deceit, Sick Character, Swearing, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Then the twins, Therapy, Trans Morality | Patton Sanders, and they are close, family au, finally Deceit, kid!Deceit, kid!Emile, kid!Logan, kid!Remus, kid!Remy, kid!virgil, patton is badass, then Emile, then Remy, then Virgil, which surprises exactly no one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2020-12-27 16:57:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 38
Words: 63,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21122159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inspirante/pseuds/inspirante
Summary: Logan knows a lot. He knows he is 5 years old. He knows neutron stars spin 600 times per second. He knows his mother is never home.Roman and Remus pretend a lot. They pretend they’re space pirates. They pretend school isn’t awful. They pretend their mother is home.Emile love a lot. He loves cartoons. He loves his brothers. He loves remembering who his mother used to be.Remy hides a lot. They hide after school in the park. They hide their failing grades. They hide how their absent mother affects them.Virgil worries a lot. He worries about homework. He worries about his brothers. He worries that his mother will forget them one day.Dee lies a lot. He lies about his name. He lies about his school life. He lies about an attentive mother.Patton cares a lot. He cares about others. He cares that the boys like him. He cares that they are happy.





	1. The Journey Teaches Destination

They say there are seven ways to get to the O’Neills’ on Harvest Road.

If you asked little Logan O’Neill, he’d simply state that walking 483 steps northeast from the Sanders Public Library is the most efficient way to his house. But don’t walk alone, he would add, fixing his small tie before promptly walking away with one of his brothers in tow.

If you asked the twins, Roman and Remus O’Neill, together, they will simply point in opposite directions before breaking out into an argument. When asked a second time, they will give you a strange look before walking away like nothing has happened. Strangely enough, if you follow either of their directions, you will find your way there.

If you asked Emile O’Neill, he will gladly offer to take you there as long as you are willing to talk about cartoons with him. The more engaged in the conversation you seem, the faster he will lead you to your destination. However, it’s not recommended that you try to returning to the O’Neill’s the same way without him unless you plan on walking in circles.

If you asked Remy O’Neill, he’ll pull down his sunglasses to give you one long, suffering look before taking your hand, calling you ‘babe’, and dragging you through the backyards of multiple neighbours. When a door slams and someone comes running out, he’ll take a sip of whatever coffee he has in his hand before telling you to run. It’d be in your best interest to listen.

If you asked Virgil O’Neill, he’ll pull down the hood of his hoodie and give you directions to his mother’s office. If you confront him, he’ll smirk and say he’s not supposed to talk to strangers and will start humming a tune under his breath as he walks away.

If you asked Dee O’Neill, everyone would think you’d be crazy for talking to him in the first place, but he will smile genuinely and point you in the opposite direction of his house. After all, why would he tell you, a stranger, where he lives? If you ask a second time, he will point in the same direction, but this time you will know to follow the opposite of what he says.

But even with the knowledge of having seven different methods in getting to that house, all seven boys will ask you the same question.

“Why would you ever want to go there?”


	2. We Know What We Are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boys will be boys, and boys may be more when they have to.

Logan was not stupid by any means.

Although having just turned five, Logan knew the entire English alphabet, could count by 2 and 5, and knew a majority of the periodic table off by heart. He could also tell you one of five hundred and twenty nine space facts he had memorized, which he is most proud of.

He was proudly showcased by his older brothers, all of which have given him affectionate nicknames such as ‘Pocket Protector’ (credit to Dee), ‘Microsoft Nerd’ (credit to Roman), and ‘Teach’ (credit to Virgil).

Logan embraced his ‘nerdy’ aspects as he found it made him seem intelligent and sophisticated. He never leaves his room without some form of tie (they may be clip-ons, but that’s his and Virgil’s secret) and always has a new word for the day to share with his brothers.

Gucci - feeling good/fine

Virgil gave him that one for his flash cards. He supposes he could describe his life with that word. Gucci. His older brothers provided sustenance and entertainment when they were home, and willingly took him to their local library to indulge in some fascinating literature.

Sure, his mother is never home since their father passed when he was merely an infant, and the kids at the park don’t ever wish to invite him to play make-believe, but he has Roman and Remus to fulfill his childish whims and he has Virgil and Dee taking care of him during the summer and he has Remy to read with and Emile to watch documentaries with.

It doesn’t matter that his mother has hired twenty seven nannies since he was born to vainly replace her presence. It doesn’t matter that the school year leaves him alone. It doesn’t matter that his family is a thread away from breaking.

But a small part of him knows it does.

* * *

Roman is not Remus. Remus is not Roman.

Roman is Roman. Roman is a prince who saves the day with his wooden sword and a sprinkle of imagination. Roman is fun and popular and charming. Roman is good.

Remus is Remus. Remus is a duke who ruins everything he touches with a potty mouth and clumsiness. Remus is stupid and disgusting and dirty. Remus is bad.

But that’s just at school.

Roman knows Remus. He knows his twin can’t stand brushing his hair because the bristles are too sharp and he knows he messes up his letters sometimes. He knows Remus is his best friend at home but pushes him away at school because Roman is cool. He knows that Remus never leaves anywhere without his twin because he’s scared of being left behind, because that’s exactly what happened with their mother.

Remus knows Roman. He knows he can sing awesomely but plays sports because that’s what’s cool. He knows Roman only eats pancakes and waffles with too much sugar just too annoy Logan and Virgil. He knows Roman is the only reason school doesn’t suck because he’s the only person who likes him. He knows Roman hates the nannies with a passion because they don’t love them like their dad did, and he will do anything to drive them away.

To and from any where they walk is free game to hold hands and tussle and laugh together. Inside the doors, Remus will back away and let Roman get swept away. But don’t let their separate personalities fool you. Roman has an eye on Remus in every class they share and Remus keeps tabs on Roman across the cafeteria.

There has only been one time Roman has needed to step in for Remus, and it wasn’t at school. It’s why Remus and Roman have matching scars under their right eye, and the twins have solemnly sworn to secrecy so that their older brothers never know what happened.

School may suck, but it’s summer for now, and that’s the best time of year because Dee gets to cook with Virgil and Remy doesn’t look so tired and Emile will convince Logan to play with them.

Roman is not Remus. Remus is not Roman.

But Roman can’t be Roman without Remus, and Remus can’t be Remus without Roman.

* * *

Emile is happy. Just ask anyone.

He smiles while watching cartoons. He smiles when he plays with his younger brothers. He smiles while he walks the halls alone. He smiles when Remy cries to him about his grades. He smiles when Dee asks him to do one more favour. He smiles when his mother leaves a note on the counter about another business trip. He smiles. . .

He smiles so his brothers don’t have to worry. He smiles so the bags under his older brothers eyes might be a little lighter tomorrow. He smiles so Roman and Remus and Logan can be happy without present parents. He smiles so he doesn’t have to think about how he really feels.

Emile is goofy and smart and kind and sad. He wants family dinners and movie nights when both of their parents were here. He wants nannies to stop trying to replace their parents. He wants Logan to not be alone. He wants Roman to sing freely like he does at home. He wants Remus to make friends who appreciate him. He wants Virgil to stop worrying so much. He wants Dee to stop lying about being happy, which is hypocritical but true.

Emile just wants to stop hurting.

* * *

Remy is tired.

They won’t sugarcoat it. They’ll tell you they’re exhausted and that coffee is the only thing keeping them on their feet. They’ll tell you their selfish but won’t elaborate. They’ll tell you they don’t want to talk to you. They’ll tell you they hate math with a passion solely because of Mrs. Barring. They’ll tell you a secret for one of yours if they think it’s worth it.

But everyone forgets their sunglasses, and they block the window to the soul.

They won’t tell you they almost failed last year. They won’t tell you where they hang out after school. They won’t tell you that they don’t have any friends, just acquaintances. They won’t tell you where the cuts on their fists come from. They won’t tell you they cry when everyone goes to bed because they can’t sleep and God, it hurts.

Remy is selfish, because they’ll take Logan to go buy another book if it means they won’t force Remy into bed. They’ll take Roman and Remus to the park if it means they won’t try and take their sunglasses. They’ll watch cartoons with Emile so that they can get a little bit of rest without sleeping. They’ll tell Virgil a story about their day with hands behind their back so he doesn’t focus on their the cuts. They’ll help Dee with cooking and cleaning so that he doesn’t question why Remy is up so late.

They like people who are predictable. They like people they can find motive for and use to their advantage.

That’s what makes getting rid of nannies so easy.

* * *

Virgil is the coolest older brother, ask any of his siblings.

He’ll let you stay up late if you promise him you won’t complain the next morning. He’ll walk you to school if you ask him to. He’ll cook your favourite dinner if you use the word please and he asks you about your day, even if the best thing that happened was seeing a butterfly at recess. He also wears makeup and can sew your clothes together. He even made the hoodie he wears everyday.

Virgil could not imagine being a worse brother.

He constantly nags his brothers to be on time and have all of their things when they leave the house because what if something happens to make them late and then they have to sit in the office waiting for a parent who will never come? And he is the most introverted kid at school that, okay sure, the art kids know his name (well, they call him V, so he knows that they probably only remember the first letter but that’s fine by him) but teachers constantly mark him absent and he has gotten mistaken for so many people over the years because he wears baggy clothes but they’re comfortable and. . .

Okay, he also rambles, which is probably super annoying even though Dee promises it’s endearing but whether he is lying or not is (always) up for debate.

And all of the nannies must hate him because he constantly gets in their way and, yeah, Virgil knows he’s only trying to help but a man can only take so many exasperated sighs before knowing when he’s not wanted. And maybe that’s his problem.

He’s forgettable. And he doesn’t want to be a problem.

* * *

Dee does what he has to do.

Everyone knows Dee O’Neill, the charming boy living on Harvest Road who deals in secrets and lies.

He lies to teachers about unfinished assignments. He lies to his friend about where he goes after school. He lies to his brothers about taking them places they want to go. He lies to the nannies about virtually everything.

But no one knows that he lies about the assignments because he stayed up to help his younger brothers with theirs and had to cook dinner and get them ready for bed. Or that he lies to his friends because he’s at home for his brothers because if he’s not home Virgil would have a panic attack and Roman and Remus may kill each other if he’s not home to mediate. He lies to his brothers about the places because he knows Virgil or Remy will take them so that he will have time for the rest of his brothers. He also lies that their mother will make it home for their birthdays because them being happy means so much more and hey, she might be home this time. He lies to the nannies not because he hates them (although, maybe a little piece of him does) but when his brothers mess up they don’t get hurt because he’ll be damned before anyone hurts them.

People remember a sweet little boy who lived on Harvest Road with two attentive parents and a sibling on the way.

Most focus on the person he has become, because it is easier to let things run their course then reach out a hand to help out.

Like it’s been said, Dee does what he has to do, because if he doesn’t, no one will.


	3. Small Town, Big Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton Hart has a big heart, but Dee isn’t so sure about him.

If you’ve ever lived in a small town, you’d know how there’s only one of everything. One school, one park, one library, one post office, one gas station.

You also know that everyone knows everyone.

The town of Sandsbury is no different. Everyone knows little old lady Eden who gives all of the kids who stop by a small pastry before sending them off on their way. Everyone knows the park on Saturdays is the best time to talk to Mr. Travis as he walks his dog because that is when he is the happiest. Everyone knows the two sisters who live by the school who will volunteer for their community any time they are needed.

But everyone also knows that the Sterling’s oldest son ran away five years ago. Everyone knows Sydney Foreman is supposed to die next year from cancer. Everyone knows the O’Neill children have been abandoned five years ago after the father was in a car accident on Highway 33 on his way to meet his wife at the hospital.

Everyone living in the town, that is.

You see, outsiders are never fully accepted into a society as close knit as a small town is. And it comes to no surprise to anyone that the O’Neills’ have been through almost 40 nannies through the past five years.

Some suspect abuse. Some suspect the kids are dreadful. Some suspect that seven kids is just too much for one person to handle.

It is actually this circumstance that attracts so many people to nanny the seven children. It’s become a sort of game to the people of Sandsbury to say how long they think the new nanny will last. And if the eldest O’Neill child partakes in these bets, no one objects.

The longest a nanny has lasted so far was the first one for nearly a year before it is rumoured that one of the twins bit her. It has still not been confirmed.

Since then, there has been rumours of fires, missing belongings, extreme messes, and lost children, all of which driving every single person who has entered that house away.

‘Maybe that’s why their mother is never home’, parents would shake their heads sympathetically.

When Patton Hart heard these stories, he knew he had to try to help these kiddos.

Patton knew he was meant to work with kids when he was thirteen years old with his first babysitting job. He loved the kids and they loved him back. He was bubbly and fun and played with them and even let them bend the rules a little bit if they asked really really nicely.

Patton grew up praised by adults but scorned by his peers. He was too nice and too friendly that it must be fake.

Well, Patton may not be a fighter, be it when he was young nor now at the age of thirty three, but eventually he made friends and got through high school to where he is today.

It was on July 7th when Patton was asked by Mrs. O’Neill to come to her house and meet the children.

“I won’t be there,” she admitted, over the phone. “But the children know you are coming.”

And personally, Patton thought that was awful to leave the children to meet a stranger in their house alone, but he smiled and agreed to take the job.

The job in question seemed simple enough. There were seven children who needed to have an adult figure with them 7 days of the week. A room would be provided for Patton, as well as a budget for groceries and other expenditures.

Now, standing before the modest house on Harvest Road on a sweltering summer morning was more intimidating that Patton would like to admit. It was draining looking at it for reasons he didn’t know, but he summoned his will and knocked on the front door.

He heard the thumping of footsteps before a disheveled teen opened the door.

“How may I be of service?” He snarked, eyeing the man up and down.

The teen in question adorned a cape, gloves, and a bowler hat. Something was spilled onto his shirt and he grimaced from the sunlight hitting his face. More than that though, he looked beyond exhausted. If he wasn’t in such extravagant attire, Patton would have assumed he had flopped out of bed.

“Well, hiya kiddo!” Patton beamed, determined to make a great first impression. “I’m Patton Hart. I’ve been hired by your mom to manage the household and make sure you’re all happy!”

There was silence for but a moment. Then, although the young teen seemed unimpressed, he sighed and pulled the door open more. “Right. It’s 9:30.”

Patton stepped into the entrance and took off his shoes, taking his time to take in the teen before him.

The teen seemed impatient, and by the brief description Mrs. O’Neill gave him, this was either Dee, Virgil, or Remy. He was lanky, probably, and he looked ready to fight the older man. He could probably take Patton, if he was being honest with himself. Patton was a lover, not a fighter.

“Are you done staring?” The teen asked, walking up the stairs before Patton had the chance to answer.

Without missing a beat, Patton blurted “I’m not the one walking up the stair-ing!”

Patton swore he saw a smirk before the teen ushered the man up the stairs. They passed by numerous frames filled with past memories.

He saw two identical little boys clutching one another in a crib. He saw a blushing boy holding up an award in one hand and a painting in the other with a man whose smile outshined Patton’s own. He saw a Halloween picture with seven dwarfs and a beautiful Snow White. He saw six kids surrounding a baby on a big grey couch. He saw a man in a suit and woman in a gown leaning in to kiss.

Far too soon did the duo reach their destination. The teen knocked twice, paused, then knocked another three times.

Two boys answered the door, each wearing a more extravagant outfit then the brother who opened the front door.

“Who’s this guy?” They asked in unison.

These must be the twins, Patton thought warmly, enjoying their adorable outfits as red and green princes.

The one on the left in red wore a golden crown on his head. A cardboard sword was strapped to his hip with what appeared to be a jump rope and he had a billowing cape made out of a red duvet that dragged behind him. All of which were put over top of his red onesie pyjamas. The one on the right in green, however, looked to be wearing armour over top of his onesie made out of tin foil with his own mangled weapon at his side. He did not have a cape like his brother, and appeared to be adorning more stains then clean clothes. While many would have gasped in horror at the appearance of the twin in green, Patton found it endearing.

“Hey there, kiddos!” Patton chirped, bending down to their height. “I’m Patton. Your new nanny. I love your outfits!”

The twins seemed to puff their chests a bit and Patton didn’t miss the endearing look the teen sent their way.

“Are you here for the party?” The one in green grinned.

“He’s not dressed fancy,” the other pouted, waving a hand in the older man’s direction.

The green twin frowned, noticing this predicament. Patton, however, simply pulled off his cardigan and wrapped it around his shoulders like a cape. He then pulled out a hair clip from his pocket and pulled his bangs out of his face.

“Your majesties,” Patton bowed grandly. “It would be an honour if you would allow my lowly self to attend your party.”

Patton knew he pulled the right move because the twins looked once at each other, nodded, then tugged him into their room.


	4. Smart Kids Ask Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan meets Patton. Logan does not like Patton. Logan feels bad.

Logan knew it was 9:30, but was quite disgruntled when his brothers brought in an outsider to their Medieval Tea Party.

For as long as he could remember, Dee was the one to enforce the rules. Whether it be bed time, doing homework, or simply respect, Dee was the one to make sure everyone listened to him. Of course, various of nannies have attempted to regulate their lives but all of the O’Neill brothers had the understanding that Dee’s word was law. And seeing as none of them have been arrested, expelled, or killed, Logan knew they had a fairly efficient system.

Dee was very particular about rules, this much Logan knew. Dee believed that you should follow all rules that didn’t disadvantage you without aiding you in some way, such as any rule he has made. This also applied to what Dee had dubbed “play time” so that if you follow the rules of one brother during their time they will follow the rules of your time.

Case in point. The man wasn’t appropriately dressed, nor did he perform a bow to the esteemed guests. He didn’t announce his name and title and entered the room before King Dee. He didn’t follow any of the ridiculous protocols the twins set for this act of make belief that Logan himself was forced to follow. He was dressed simply in his everyday attire, and Dee wasn’t doing anything about it?! He was the one to convince Logan to attend and Logan knew he had to follow the rules because what sense would that make if he didn’t?

The man began lowering himself down to the floor beside him.

“That is where Virgil the Mage is seated.” Logan stated, glowering at the man beside him.

The man blushed before standing back up, casting a glance towards the twins. “Where shall I sit, your majesties?”

At least he got that right, Logan grumbled to himself.

The twins looked to the King for guidance, who smiled charmingly. “Our guest may be seated on the floor next to Prince Remus.”

With a flourish, Dee sat in his chair which was dubbed “The Throne”. The princes followed and instantly began placing bets on how many fake cakes they could stuff into their mouth in one go. Logan, however, was still focused on the man sitting across the table. When was Virgil coming back?

“Who are you?” Logan questioned, head slightly tilted.

“Well, kiddo,” the man grinned at Logan. “My name is Patton.”

Logan’s absolutely did not pout. “What family do you belong to? What is your status? It is im-prop-er conduct to not in-tro-duce yourself in the proper manner.”

Improper - not in accordance with accepted rules or standards

Logan really liked this word. Dee said it made him sound sophisticated.

The man, Patton, didn’t miss a beat, “My apologies, sir. I am Patton Hart, a humble peasant outside of town. I came to make sure all of the members of this household are well taken care of.”

Logan nodded once before retracting his gaze. He already strongly disliked the man. He was a new variable to consider, which would be especially hard if he didn’t have Virgil to assist him. All Logan wanted was for Virgil to return with breakfast promptly.

Seven minutes and three seconds later, Virgil appeared with their two other brothers in tow. Virgil was carrying a plate of wobbling toast, Emile the peanut butter and jam, and Remy two butter knives. They placed them on the table, and Logan was unsure if they either didn’t notice their new caretaker or simply ignored him.

“Hiya!” Patton greeted, causing Virgil to jump slightly before turning to the man in question.

“‘Sup,” Virgil mumbled, briskly taking a seat beside Logan.

“Hi!!” Emile beamed in response. “I’m Emile!! I like cartoons and pink and blue and cotton candy!”

Patton nodded in acknowledge before looking at the food in front of them. “This certainly is a mighty feast. May I dine with you?”

Simultaneously, all of the O’Neill brothers turned to Dee for a verdict. Logan may or may not have not so subtly shook his head in the negative. But even if he did, Virgil did the same.

“Well, I am sure we all have a lot of questions to ask our esteemed guest,” Dee nodded to his brothers, and dread began to fill Logan.

In an instant, the door was closed and locked, the lights were turned off, and Virgil was giving Logan’s hand a squeeze.

The air was punctuated by Remus cackling and the lights were flicked on a five minutes and forty nine seconds later by Remy.

Questioning had begun.


	5. Hostage Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton wasn’t an idiot, but man could he find himself in sticky situations.

Patton wasn’t an idiot. Sure, his grades in high school were mediocre at best and he was held back in his freshman year of high school and he almost dropped out of college and he sometimes acted without thinking but that is not the only kind of smarts a person can have. 

People can be book smart. People can have common sense. People can be street smart. 

Patton liked to say his superpower was emotional intelligence. 

As said before, Patton wasn’t an idiot. The second the oldest kiddo smiled at his brothers and the lights flicked off he knew he was in trouble. 

Everything happened in five minutes, which is actually pretty impressive if Patton thinks about it. 

It happened in five minutes and three steps. 

Step One: Patton was thrust into a chair by at least three different pair of hands, and two of them were small. Too small to do anything against without accidentally hurting them. 

Step Two: He was secured tightly to said chair by various jump ropes. Not enough to hurt but definitely there. 

Step Three: One of the kiddos cackled and the lights flooded his senses. 

Standing before him were the O’Neill children, all with stoic faces except for the twins. The eldest stood in the middle, the hint of a smirk on his lips. 

But Patton still has his super power, and he can feel the fear radiating off this child and Patton’s heart drops to his stomach. 

Said teen turns around with the whip of his cape to face his younger brothers. “The issue on the table: Patton is here in place of our dear mother with the guise of keeping us safe and happy. Remy, you have the floor.”

One of the older brothers stepped forward; glasses perched on his nose, coffee gripped in his hand, and an air of nonchalance surrounding him. 

“Twenty seven nannies have graced our humble home, gurls.” He took a sip and sighed. “Should we wait for the inevitable and allow a stranger to dictate our lives? Evidence points to no one being able to handle our flair, so I say we toss him out.”

“Virgil?” 

“Well, they say first impressions are everything.” Patton notices the kid gripping the edge of his hoodie but his face oozes confidence. He can’t help but look at the youngest brother beside him, who’s eyes not so subtly flicker between Virgil and Patton himself. “He followed our rules and made do with his outfit to meet the twins expectations. He’s obviously willing to see this play out if the lack of yelling is any indication.”

The O’Neill children all pointedly look at him before turning away. 

“Objection!” Remus shrieks, jumping in front of Virgil. “He could be waiting to cut out our hearts and tear out our eyes!! Wouldn’t that be super cool?!”

Roman pushes his brother to the side, not one to be outshined by anyone. “Objection! He’s wearing light colours! No way would he get them yucky. He’s probably going to set the house on fire in our sleep.”

“Oh no, kiddos!” Patton feels slightly faint at the thought of any of these kids getting hurt. “I’m not going to. . .”

“Ooooo!!” Emile jumps in. “Maybe he’s secretly a super villain like Gargamel from 'The Smurfs' or Krang from 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'.”

“Nuh-uh! He’d need a lair, dummy.” Roman crosses his arms with a ‘duh’ look on his face. 

“But what if our house will be his lair?!” Remus grips Roman’s arm before spinning and tripping over himself to reach Patton. “Can I be your sidekick?”

“No fair!” Roman whined, rushing over to Patton and his brother. “I wanna be a sidekick.”

“You can be whatever you want.” Patton smiles reassuringly. Hey, he’s not about to kill anyone’s dreams, especially a kid’s. “But I’m not a. . .”

“You can’t have two sidekicks!” The twins complain in unison. 

“Crofters!”

Immediately the twins scurry to their brothers in front of the oldest who’s hands have cemented to his hips, leaving Patton alone and confused before it dawned on him. 

A secret code word between brothers. Cool! 

Patton took this moment to wiggle his hands a bit, and was surprised to find the jump ropes loosening a bit. He shakes them a little more and they fall off quietly onto the carpet. He brings his hands to his lap and rubs them a bit before tuning back into the kids chat. 

“We take turns in this household.” The oldest states with authority before turning to the shortest O’Neill. “You have the floor, Logan.”

“I don’t own the floor.” Logan says seriously, squinting slightly at his older brother and Patton has to suppress a smile. 

“It’s a figure of speech, Teach.” Virgil carded his fingers through the youngest brothers hair. 

“Oh,” Logan frowned for a second before fixing his tie and lifting his glasses. “Sta-tist-i-cal-ly speaking, we haven’t had any good nannies. But the law says everyone is innocent ‘til proven guilty. We should ask him questions.”

They turned to Patton, and he was confused why they all froze momentarily until he remembered his hands were untied. 

All at once, they began screaming. Roman and Remus pulled out wooden swords while Remy and the teen who let him in pulled out Nerf guns from out of thin air. Virgil pulled Emile and Logan behind him protectively and barred his teeth. 

“Don’t. Move.” Virgil gritted out. 

Patton gulped and slowly put his hands in the air. “I promise you I’m not going to do anything. My hands just really hurt but I won’t move. You can ask me anything. Ask me any question to your Hart’s content.”

Silence. Then, a snort could be heard from behind Virgil

“Was. . .” Remy furrowed his eyebrows. “Was that a pun? On your name?”

Patton smiles sheepishly. “Maybe?”

Some of the brothers groaned while the rest giggled. The oldest, however, kept the gun trained on the older man, even though it was futile to threaten anyone with foam bullets. 

Patton waited patiently for them to quiet down and let them lead the conversation. He wanted to make sure they felt safe in their house, because obviously something has happened between them and the other nannies to force them into believing that intimidation would keep them safe. His heart ached at the thought of these kiddos being hurt to the extent that they feared anyone who they deemed dangerous. The oldest especially seems ready to kill Patton if he so much as looked at his brothers the wrong way and Patton knew he needed to fix this. 

Also, Patton did not want to be shot with a foam bullet, thank you very much. 

“How old are you?” Emile asked, smiling pleasantly. 

“I’m 33, turning 34 next January.”

“I’m turning 11 in December!” Emile grinned proudly. 

“Are you married?” Roman butted in, grabbing Patton’s left hand and inspecting it for a ring. 

Patton laughed. “No. I’m not really focused on romance.”

“Me neither.” Remus nodded in approval while Roman gasped, hand dramatically laid over his heart. 

“Why, romance is just about the bestest thing in the whole wide world! It even has Roman in it!”

“That it does, kiddo.” Patton chuckled, still plenty aware of the glare he was receiving from Dee and Virgil. 

“Why did you take this job?” Remy asked after a few minutes of silence. 

“Well,” Patton took a breath, collecting his thoughts. “I love kids, and making them happy. I heard this position opened up and since I live in the next town over it seemed perfect. Almost like fate! I just want to make sure you guys are all happy.”

“A likely story, for a dragon-witch!” Roman sneers, waving his wooden sword around and nearly hitting Emile in the back of the head. “First you say you don’t believe in love. Now you say you want us happy?”

“Why wouldn’t I want you to be happy?” Patton asked carefully. 

Roman huffed, crossing his arms before turning away to join his twin beside Dee. Remy’s hand shook as he took a sip from his mug and Emile was nervously whistling the theme song from Steven Universe. Virgil was running his fingers through Logan’s hair and blatantly avoiding any and all eye contact. 

“No one wants us to be happy.” Logan states bluntly, causing Virgil to cease his hand motions. 

“Well that can’t be true,” Patton frowned. “What about your friends?”

An uncomfortable silence passed by the O’Neill children that tied Patton’s stomach in knots. 

“Your neighbours seem very frIendly.” Patton tried again. 

“They just give us casseroles.” Remus stated. 

“They feel bad for us,” Roman added without missing a beat. 

“Well, surely your mother wants you. . .”

“No,” Dee interjected, forcibly trying not the make his voice waver. 

Patton was silent. 

If you asked Patton about his family life, he would smile and tell you how his mother would bake with him every Saturday because she wanted to spend time with him and how his family ate dinner together every night. He would tell you his father sat at the the kitchen counter to help him with homework and would take Patton to the park every second weekend and push him on the swing. He would also go on to tell you how his mother was the first one to help him transition by taking him for a haircut and calling him Patton and how his father went with him to buy clothes for the first time after transitioning because he was scared Patton would get hurt. 

He wouldn’t tell you how his parents were never home because they weren’t expecting Patton. He wouldn’t tell you he was told he was going through a phase and that he was still their little girl and how when he cut his hair he was screamed at or he came home with a broken arm the next time he went out to buy clothes. 

He’d lie because that’s what he wanted from his parents was unconditional love. What he got was heartache. 

And he’ll be damned before he lets these kiddos go through anything similar to him. 

“Well, I care. To me, your happiness is never Patton pending.” Patton have a nod of finality to his words, hoping that he could express his heartache  and love for these children he met half an hour ago. 

“That was a self-ref-er-en-tial pun.” Logan stated, seeming impressed but unsure if he was right. 

“I regret nothing.” Patton responded, his lips turning up in spite of him trying to keep a straight face. 

“Word play is very clever,” Logan lifted his glasses, nodding at Patton. 

“Thanks, kiddo!” 

Patton was glad to see the younger kids relax around him, but he still sensed a huge wall was standing between his understanding of the O’Neill boys and who they really were. 

Dee especially seemed on edge, the Nerf gun still trained on Patton. 

“Ahem.” Dee effectively caught everyone’s attention with his voice. “I believe everyone has yet to have breakfast. And after that I think it is my turn with our new nanny. Alone”

Well, that didn’t sound good.  Patton thought, and by the expression on the rest of their faces, they didn’t believe so either. 


	6. Making Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dee will do anything for his brothers.
> 
> Even if that means making a deal.

If you asked anyone in Sandsbury about Dee O’Neill, they would all circle back to one word: self-preservation. 

He would lie to everyone about everything if it somehow served his own purpose. Everyone has long forgotten what his actual name was and people behind his back would refer to him as Deceit. 

Well, nicknames were fine by him if no one tried to find the truth. 

If Dee were to be honest about anything, it would be about his brothers. Logan is so so smart but he could also be a dumbass in the emotional intelligence department. Roman and Remus has so many ideas and they are so creative in their own ways but Jesus Christ would they ever slow down? And sweet Emile is so kind and selfless that he would let almost anyone walk over him. And Remy knew how to keep their brothers happy and he was so sarcastic he’ll get his ass handed to him one day. And Virgil is so protective and willing to do anything for his brothers except that anxiety holds him back. 

He loves all of his brothers so much it hurts, but he also fears for them everyday. 

He refused to sit with them at the tiny tea table in the twins’ room, instead standing by the door. He hated their new nanny. He hated that their mother hired him. He hated having to let this man into their lives. 

Dee knew the routine. The nanny comes. They promise to keep them happy. One of his brothers gets attached. Then a 180 occurs. Cue the tears, heartache, and he has to take action. 

Dee is tired, and just wants to be 18 so he can finally be their legal guardian and this bullshit with the new nannies is over. 

Even now, Dee can see Emile’s eyes sparkling as Patton engages in a conversation about Steven Universe. Thankfully everyone else is keeping their distance; Remy has the twin on each side while Virgil and Logan are glued together. 

Dee feels the weight of the Nerf gun in his hand just like the switchblade hiding in his back pocket. Only Virgil knows he has it, and only Virgil has been there for the one time he had to use it. 

He grimaced a little when Patton knocks a utensil a little bit with his hand. He can see Virgil visible tense up and his hand moves up to Logan’s hair, a nervous tick that started 3 years ago. 

“Have you seen Avatar: The Last Airbender?” Emile asked, balancing at the edge of his seat. 

“I have!” Patton exclaimed, crossing his arms on the table to lean closer to the child. “Personally, Katara is my favourite. I love her water bending skills.”

“She’s awesome! I really like. . .”

“Alright, kids. Didn’t Virgil promise a day at the park?” Dee not so subtly butted in. 

Virgil nodded rapidly and all of the O’Neill children jumped to their feet, except for Emile. 

“Really?” Emile pouted, but one stern look from Dee got him up on his feet and following Remy. 

The door clicked behind them and Dee clenched his hands into fists. 

Dee was comforted by the fact that Patton was playing with his sleeves and avoiding making eye contact when he turned towards him. 

No one spoke. Dee was waiting for Patton to make the first move, but wasn’t surprised by the lack of response. It was harder to be the one to start the conversation because Dee knew, he knew, that if he made the wrong move first it was game over. 

“What do you know about society?”

Patton’s head snapped up, then furrowed his eyebrows. “Huh?”

“Society,” Dee started, slowly waking to the table to sit down. “Society itself is a lie. It's an abstract concept, as real as the monster under your bed. We obey these rules or get punished for breaking them. All in the name of society.”

“What are you getting at, kiddo?” Patton asked carefully. 

“These. . . laws, if you will, dictate who we listen to and what actions we must take. It puts one person in charge for everyone else to follow blindly.” His hand slams on the table. “It claims to be a collectivist approach but in reality only serves one person: the leader. However, this household is not and will never be run like a society.”

Patton remained silent, and Dee continued on. 

“If someone were to implement a hierarchical system,” Dee chuckles, levelling his eyes with the man across from him, “they would find themselves in an. . . unfortunate situation.”

Patton audibly gulped, and Dee felt a thrill run through him. He loved being in control. 

“Well, kiddo, I. . . Uh.” Patton closed his eyes, took a breath, then met Dee’s gaze warmly. “I would never want to overstep anyone’s boundaries. I don’t want to change your guys’ schedule. I’m just here to keep you safe and happy.”

“Lies,” Dee mutters. 

“Pardon?”

“You’re lying.” Dee nearly shouts, feeling years of fear and anger and resentment rising to his skin. He takes a shaky breath. “Why are you really here? Is it the money? I assure you, we can make your life a living Hell.”

“It’s not the money, I promise.”

“Then do you get a kick out of hurting people? Surely you don’t expect a house with 7 kids is going to allow you to do anything.”

“Of course not, Dee! I. . .”

“Then why are you here?” Dee glares, then mutters to himself. “It makes no sense.”

Because really, the nanny always had an ulterior motive. In the five years, there had only been one nanny to succeed in their endeavour, and Dee had become more aware of everyone entering their lives. And if Dee couldn’t read this simpleton, how could he keep his brothers safe?

“Give me a month.”

“What?” Dee stopped fiddling with his gloves. 

“Give me a month.” Patton repeated. And shit, he was deadly serious. “I’ll prove I’m here to keep you safe and healthy. If either you or your brothers feel I am not good for you kiddos, I’ll leave immediately. But give me a month.”

Dee bit his lip, weighing his options. On the one hand, he would comply with Virgil’s logic of letting the first impression prove the man’s true intentions. On the other, he could listen to Remy and the proof of various nannies hurting them time and time again.

One month is enough time to get rid  of him. It’s certainly enough time to see him slip up. But should Dee allow Patton - this stranger - to infiltrate their home and hope he doesn’t fuck up?

Then Emile enters the picture. He thinks of Emile, and his wide eyes and a genuine smile on his face and. . . 

“Fine.” Dee grits out, thrusting his hand towards Patton. “One month.”

Patton grabbed his hand, giving his hand a shake that was firm yet. . . Friendly? 

“I promise I won’t let you down.”


	7. Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton manages to make lunch before panicking.

Patton could still feel Dee’s grip on his hand long after he let go and told him he would be joining his brothers. Patton scrambled to offer the kids a ride back and he almost missed the soft look in Dee’s eyes before he mumbled “Don’t worry. We’ll be back for lunch.”

“You have a phone, right?” And at Dee’s confused nod, Patton quickly pulled out his own. “Here’s my number if you change your mind or need anything.”

Dee hesitantly put the number in his phone before heading out. 

Which left Patton sitting alone in the giant house. He took a moment to himself, trying to gather his thoughts from that intense interrogation. 

It was obvious he was not welcome here. Dee made it clear Patton had no influence over any of the brothers and if he made one wrong move he would surely find himself in an. . . unpleasant situation. 

But he was given a chance. One month to prove himself. 

Patton wiped his hands on his pants before deciding to give himself a tour of the house. He discovered eight bedrooms, five bathrooms, a theatre room, a play room, an attic (that may or may not have frightened Patton slightly by how dark it was), a laundry room, and a massive kitchen and dining room. 

When peering into each bedroom, he made sure not to step inside because he was sure Dee would be able to smell any wrong move he made in the house. 

When he was positive one of the rooms was meant for him, he went out to his vehicle to gather his belongings. It took several trips up and down the stairs to bring everything in and his hair was clinging to his forehead. It took him a few hours to put his clothes in the closet and put a few of his personal things around the room, but he was satisfied with the end result. 

He had the closet organized by colour and his bedsheets had little animals on them. He had three blankets on the end of his bed, and the few trinkets he owned were lined up nicely on the single shelf in the room. 

It was nearing noon by the time he was finished and Patton felt the first thing he should do was make a nice lunch for when they came back. He stumbled around the kitchen as he took stock of what they had before deciding on getting an assortment of meats and cheese and condiments for the kiddos to make their own sandwiches. He also cut up some fruit to make the meal healthy. Patton was honestly quite proud of himself for coming up with the idea, simply because if the kids had choice Dee wouldn’t be angry with him. 

Just as he set out some plates for the kids, his phone buzzed on the counter. Patton grabbed his phone, surprised to see an unknown number before he went pale. 

_ I need you to come pick us up. Now.  _


	8. Kicking Off the Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil may not love the park or the people in it, but he loves his brother's so he guesses that will have to be enough.

Contrary to popular belief, Virgil didn’t actually mind being at the park. Sure, there was a lot of people during the summer and the sound of shrieking filled the air (mostly coming from Roman and Remus) but he had his saving grace. 

Logan. 

Ever since he was little, the youngest O’Neill loved bringing books for either himself or Virgil to read out loud while the others ran around the park. While sometimes their other brothers would convince them to join them for a game, it was never unusual to see the two brothers enjoying a book together in the shade. A tradition begun where Virgil would make sure he brought a blanket with the two of them and set it under the Tree of Valour, named after an old tale the people at the old folks home loved retelling. 

Periodically, one of their brothers would come sit with them for a brief time before being either called or pulled away to rejoin whatever game they were talking a break from. 

Sometimes Logan wanted to read in silence, which was fine by Virgil as this meant he got to bring his sketchbook to practice his realism drawing. 

It was actually. . . one of the only time Virgil felt at ease. He and Dee made a strict rule of staying in sight of one of the oldest two brothers and Virgil did a quick head count to see if he could see everyone. Roman and Remus were chasing each other around the various playground equipment and Emile was swinging beside Remy. And, of course, Logan was right beside him. 

With everyone accounted for, Virgil asked Logan if he could play some of his music out loud. The barest inclination of his head allowed Virgil to eagerly grab his phone and hit play. 

Virgil allowed his pencil to stroke the page a few times to warm up. Now, the only question was what to draw? Virgil glanced up, taking in his options. In the end, he decided that drawing the soccer field would be fine.  More than fine, actually . Virgil felt a flutter of excitement as he looked at the shadow cast by one of the goal posts and _there was a bird that if it stayed riiiiight there and. . . Right, he should get to work. _

Virgil made sure to check on his brothers every so often to make sure they were a) not hurt or b) not missing. But he’d be lying if he said his main focus was not on his art. 

He jumped when his phone buzzed, breaking the tranquil atmosphere. One glance told him that Dee was joining them in a few minutes, and the slight weight in Virgil chest that always resided their without his big brother lifted slightly. 

Dee arrived six minutes later and motioned Virgil to join him. 

“You okay here?” Virgil asked, and a slight grunt was the only answer he received. 

He made sure to pack his pencils and sketchbook away before making his way over to the oldest O’Neill. 

“Sup,” Virgil saluted with two fingers, while internally cringing.  Why does he do that?

Dee was quiet, which was never a good sign and only ever proved to raise Virgil’s blood pressure. But Virgil also knew that pushing Dee to speak just made them both run in circles. 

“We shouldn’t have a problem with Patton.” 

Virgil squinted at him. “What did you do?”

“Moi?” Dee placed a hand over his heart and sighed. “My dear brother, why is that the only question I ever come out of your mouth?”

Virgil kept his stare blank, letting the silence answer his question. 

“Fine. I may or may not have threatened him.”

“Of course.” Virgil rubbed his face, feeling the weight of all of the possible scenarios lying on his shoulders, before grabbing Dee’s shoulder. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No, I just. . .” 

The slight hesitation made Virgil stiffen.  _ What the hell happened when they left? _

“He’s so. . . _Nice_.” Dee spat. 

“Nice?”

“Yes!” Dee exploded before quieting his voice. “He took everything with stride. He never raised his voice, he let me talk. He even convinced me to give him a month. He said if we thought he was bad for us he’d leave immediately. When has that ever happened?”

“Not since-“ and Virgil stopped there, the brothers sharing a look. There was no need to expand on that particular thought. 

Virgil bit his lip, taking in what Dee told him and trying to ignore the thought at the back of his mind. He knew all of his brothers didn’t like change and hated having to navigate a new situation. Especially Logan. The atmosphere in the house was always tense after a new nanny, but never once had a nanny offered to leave if asked. Almost all of them had acted above the brothers, which allowed all of their actions to be able to predict. 

This Patton Hart fellow was completely new. 

Never had a nanny engaged in a topic of interest with his brothers so easily, or took Remus and Roman together in stride, or didn’t retaliate against Dee for his interrogation. 

“What’s the plan?” Virgil asked, shifting his stance so they were standing side by side to watch their brothers. 

Dee took several moments before making eye contact again. 

“I think we see what happens. As much as I hate to give someone new free reign in the house, there’s not much we can do.” Dee looked bitter. “He’s already on Emile’s good side.”

Virgil hated that Dee was right. It was always easier to deal with nannies if everyone was on the same side. But if one brother liked the nanny, it was significantly harder to get rid of them by making it appear to be an accident. 

“Looks like a civil war is brewing.” Dee chuckled, raising a hand in the direction of the monkey bars. 

Virgil’s heart skipped a beat as he whipped his head towards the playground. Virgil snorted as he saw that Roman and Remus appeared to have gathered a gang of children. Each child stood with with either twin and the brothers appeared to be yelling something to one another. With dramatic flair, no less. 

“They get that from you, you know.” Virgil said, getting a curious glance from Dee. 

“Get what?”

“Their dramatics.”

Dee playfully shoved him as Virgil laughed harder. 

The two boys stood there for a few moments, taking in the brief minute of peace before they would inevitably be forced to join either Roman or Remus. Virgil smirked as he noticed Remy and Emile facing off each other, being on Remus’ and Roman’s team respectively. 

If Virgil were to guess, they were playing some variation of good and evil princes, which was the twins favourite game whether they had an entourage or not. There were always countless bruises by the end of it, but there was no denying how bright their smiles were. 

“Gonna head back to Pocket Protector?” Dee nodded in the direction of Logan, his face still firmly stuck in his space book. 

“Better be there to protect him from joining the twins,” Virgil bumped his shoulder before walking away. 

The second he turned to Logan, time seemed to stop. And not in a romantic way. 

The soccer field was now occupied and the ball. . . was headed. . . towards. . . 

“Logan!!” Virgil screeched, sprinting towards the boy. 

Logan looked up in confusion, before promptly being hit square in the face. 

Virgil didn’t know how he got to Logan’s side in the blink of an eye and holding tissues from his pocket but he didn’t exactly care. He could only focus on the blood and  _ oh god there’s so much and where is Dee ‘cause he can handle this so much better and is he even breathing and what about everyone else and. . . Holy shit, his glasses are broken! Is Logan blind now? Oh my fu- _

“-gil, it’s okay.”

_ How the fuck does anyone know that?! Do they not see the blood? Do they not see the glasses that are broken and the glass probably embedded in Logan’s eyes and. . ? _

“Babe, look at me.”

Virgil sucked in a breath and gasped, but allowed whoever was talking to him to take his hand and pull him away from Logan. 

“His nose is just bleeding. He’ll be fine.”

Virgil let Remy drag him back and lean against his chest while Dee tended to Logan. Emile was tapping a familiar beat on the back of his hand and Virgil gasped in another breath. Emile was rambling about whatever cartoon he was interested in and Virgil let the words wash over him as he tried to calm down. 

_ Logan’s okay, _ Virgil repeated like a mantra, clenching and unclenching his fists. 

Virgil felt numb watching Dee holding tissues to Logan’s nose while trying to comfort the boy. Logan’s eyes were still filled with tears but he wasn’t sobbing so he had to be okay. 

Virgil felt Remy’s chest rumble with a laugh, forcing him to look away from his brothers. 

Remy was laughing at the sight of the twins scolding some very sheepish looking teens trying to apologize to Logan. 

“Logie is only little.” Remus’ small hands were on his hips as he glared up at the gang of teens. “Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“I’ll defend his honour!!” Roman proclaimed, waving his wooden sword in the air and nearly hitting his brother in the back of the head. 

“I can do it, too.” Remus pouted. 

“We’ll do it together.” Roman reassured before focusing back on the soccer players. “Who are we taking first?’

Virgil was grateful to see that Dee picked up Logan and headed over to him. Logan sat in Virgil’s lap before Dee quickly met up with the twins to defuse the situation. 

“You okay, right?” Virgil whispered, unconsciously running his fingers through Logan’s hair. 

“I am. . .” Logan paused for a moment. “Less than optimal.”

Virgil felt that was good enough and if he shifted to better support Logan as well as angle him away from the soccer players, no one needed to mention that. 

Virgil looked towards Dee and was immensely grateful for his older brother. 

“Gentleman.” Dee greeted, his head slightly inclined. 

“Oh fuck, man, I’m so sorry.” One of them began. “I thought my pass was fine but my aim was off and I’m so sorry.”

“Is the little dude okay?” Another asked, biting their lip as their eyes flickered betweenDee and Logan. 

“Don’t ignore us!” The twins whined while everyone proceeded to do just that. 

“He’s probably more frightened then hurt,” Dee chuckled, casting a fond look towards Logan. 

“But didn’t you say you kicked the ball so you could talk t-“ one interjected before being kicked in the shins. 

“If all is well, and while I’m here,” the teen who kicked the ball leaned up against the tree looking at Remy. “I wouldn’t mind getting to know you a little more.”

Remy paled and Dee interjected, “I don’t believe he’s interested.”

The teen tutted, not so subtly stepping closer to Remy. “Why don’t you let him talk for himself?”

“Don’t worry. He was right. It’s a no.” Remy nodded, taking a step away from the soccer player. 

“But back on the topic of Logan.” The smile Dee wore was replaced with more of a grimace. 

“Didn’t you say he was fine? Nothing to fear?” The soccer player quirked an eyebrow and smirked.

“Nothing to fear,” Dee repeated and smiled genuinely and the tension in the soccer players relaxed slightly. “Well, he may be okay but I do believe we haven’t resolved the issue. I’m sure you’ll be willing to pay for his new glasses to fix the balance. How much are they again? Six hundred dollars? Seven?.”

“Seven.” Emile supplied unhelpfully and Virgil suppresses the urge to either kick Dee in the back of the leg or deck the soccer player in the face. 

“Is it that serious?” One of them looked skeptical, as did the rest of the players. 

“Of course,” Dee was grabbing out his phone, typing something rapidly. “Poor Little Logan has rather bad eyesight.”

“Glasses can’t be that expensive.” The original scoffed. 

“He looks fine to me. Probably faking it.” Another player muttered to his friends, who snickered in agreement. 

“You’re free to view his current glasses.” Dee held up the mangled pair in three pieces with spiderweb cracks in both lenses. “But, you know, it would be rather unfortunate if karma had a hand in the events you experience after this.”

“Are you. . . Are you threatening us?” The first player straightened and Virgil regretted being grateful for Dee taking control of the situation. 

The soccer player had Remy’s hand in his wrist, and Remy was struggling to get him off. 

“Not at all, not at all. But I do feel it’s necessary to mention who we are, seeing as you didn’t even know Remy’s name.” A smile graced his face that didn’t meet his eyes. He stuck out his hand, his eyes sharp. “My last name is O’Neill. But in case it doesn’t ring a bell, I’m sure you’ll recognize the name Deceit?”

The question appeared innocent, but everyone felt the weight of the name. The soccer players paled rapidly and Dee’s grin grew.

“W-w-we’re not in-intimidated by y-y-you,” one player chuckled nervously, looking at his teammates for backup. 

“It’s all the same to me, you know. Whether you pay or not, I’m the one who will benefit in the end.”

“We can just pay,” one piped up, but one soccer player must have had a thick skull. 

“What are you going to do, huh?” 

Dee tilted his head, as if in thought. “I’m not sure what you are insinuating. But I can assure you, I’m not the one you should be worried about.”

Only Dee seemed confident with this answer, and the soccer players peered at the other O’Neill brothers, perhaps doing a headcount. 

Virgil was beyond confused. He didn’t see anyone in the park who would be willing to help them but Dee never said anything without a reason. For the life of him, Virgil could not think of a possible solution to what Dee had proposed, and he was firmly ready to kick Dee in the face in whatever afterlife they were sent too. 

“Oh my goodness!! What happened here?”

All heads turned towards the voice, and Virgil felt a weird sense of relief to see none other that Patton Hart racing towards them. 

Patton’s hair was a mess and he had the apron on that looked like a butchers. Dee bought that as a joke for Virgil for Halloween because of his love for scary and gory things. Virgil felt a small smile on his lips as he watched Patton go grim extremely worried before his eyes spotted Logan and his face morphed to anger and surprise. 

“Is that blood!? Oh goodness, what happened? Dee, tell me what happened so I know what to do. I swear I’ll fix it, don’t you worry.”

He turned towards the soccer players, eyes narrowing at the sight of Remy struggling. 

“Why the hell are your hands on him?”

“It was a misunderstanding. Both of them are -“ one of the soccer players stepped backward when Patton stepped towards them. 

“You mean to tell me that Logan’s nose is dripping like a waterfall because of you? And Remy is pushing you away because what? He thinks this is fun? What the hell happened?!”

Patton looked more deranged as his voice rose an octave. It came as no surprise when the soccer players all immediately pulled out their wallets and threw money before grabbing their bags and booking it out of the park and down the sidewalk. Patton fussed quickly over Remy as Dee calmly collected the bills on the ground. Once Remy had assured he was fine (“not the first time someone’s made a move on me, Mr. Hart”) and Patton winced slightly at Remy as well ad glared again in the direction the soccer players retreated to, he knelt down to Logan. 

“Oh, kiddo,” Patton winced, his fingers hovering over Logan’s nose. “Whatever hit you got you good. We should put some ice on that.”

“I got him,” Virgil immediately stood up and gathered Logan in his arms before Patton could offer to do it himself. He felt Logan squeeze his hoodie sleeve which told him Logan was grateful. 

“Do you want me to take the blanket and book?” Patton offered, already bending down to pick them up.

Patton took the lead as he guided the O’Neill children back to the family vehicle. Virgil’s eyes widened at the sight of it; not because it was mangled or scraped though. It was in prime condition. The bumper stickers were still on the vehicle and the stupid dice blocks hung off the mirror. The car seats were still strapped in from when Logan was a baby. It was exactly as he remembered it, and Virgil was surprised they still had it parked in the garage. 

The surprising thing about seeing the vehicle wasn’t that he thought Patton ran to the park, but because all of the other nannies refused to drive the vehicle which resulted in never having enough seats. Many times Dee and Virgil were forced to walk to wherever they needed or stayed home with one of the others due to this problem. All of the brothers stumbled slightly at the sight of their da- the family vehicle. 

Dee was the first to make a move and get everyone situated. Once everyone was seated and buckled, Patton began the drive home. 

“I’m sorry.”

Everyone remained silent and tense as Patton calmly took a left turn. Virgil was definitely not going to be the one to break the silence. 

“I raised my voice and I know some of you kiddos got a little scared,” Patton chuckled sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to scare you, especially with how scary the situation was already, so I’m really sorry.”

Virgil swore those soccer players must have killed them all and Patton never came to get them. Or that Patton crashed the car a few minutes ago and Virgil was unconscious. Or that Virgil passed out from his panic attack because he saw Dee hesitate, and he  never hesitated with a stranger. 

Virgil saw Dee take a breath before nodding, as if he was having a private conversation with himself. “Thanks for getting us.”

Now Virgil knows he’s dead. One hundred percent, absolutely certain, descending into Hell as of this moment, because Dee has _never_ once thanked a nanny. 


	9. Don’t Flip Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back at the house, and something is in the kitchen.

Ask anyone else in the vehicle and they would say Patton didn’t feel the power behind Dee’s words, that he was calm and collected and perhaps seemed a bit guilty because of the yelling. Everyone would agree that Patton couldn’t have possibly understood the implicit meaning behind Dee’s words. 

Patton knew otherwise. 

_ Thanks for getting us. _

He had to take a deep breath just to make sure he didn’t crash the car. Sure, he could’ve been making a big deal out of nothing or he was still afraid of Dee because of their. . . conversation that morning, but Patton knew. The O’Neill brothers might think they’re subtle, but the way Roman and Remus were looking at each other and how Logan was excessively poking Virgil’s arm clearly affirmed the weight Patton felt from Dee’s words. 

He almost missed the turn to their house because the sincerity behind his words kept his mind replaying them over and over. 

_ Thanks for getting us. _

When he finally (safely) parked the vehicle in the massive garage, all of the kids scrambled out of the vehicle, breaking the quiet atmosphere. 

Patton let out a breath before follow them into the house. He was a little amused to see the kiddos swarm towards the kitchen, but then they all stopped in the doorway. 

Patton hurried to peer in over them, worried they spotted a burglar, or worse, a spider. 

“You. . . made us lunch.” It was a statement and a question at the same time, and Virgil met his gaze evenly. 

“Of course I did! You kiddos were bound to be hungry after a morning in the park.” Patton responded, subtly nudging the twins to enter the kitchen. 

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Remy was already grabbing a plate, his hands seemingly stretching out in a dozen directions as he assembled his sandwich. 

This prompted the twins and Emile into action, but Virgil, Dee, and Logan seemed more hesitant. 

“I can make you something else if you’d like.” Patton offered quietly to the trio, concerned that he overestimated the idea that everyone liked sandwiches. 

“This is sat-is-fact-or-y,” Logan gave a slight nod, and Virgil took his hand to help him assemble his sandwich. 

Dee stood there for a second, scooping an assortment of fruits onto the twins plates that made them moan but one stern look had them scurrying to their seats. He finished letting everyone dish up before moving to serve himself. Dee and Patton met eyes, and a slight nod was the only communication between the two. 

Patton made his own sandwich smiling as he listened to Roman and Remus argue over the winner of the game they were playing before leaving the park. He also wrapped some ice in a towel for Logan. When Patton joined the brothers at the table, everyone went silent. 

Patton saw everyone’s eyes flicker to Dee before looking down at their food. 

“This is for you, kiddo.” Patton handed the small boy the homemade ice pack, who hesitantly took it before pressing it to his face. 

The meal passed silently with only minimal tension in the air. Once one of the brothers finished their meal they made their way upstairs to what Patton assumed was their rooms. The only person left was Dee. 

Patton finished before the oldest O’Neill and decided he could get started on dishes. Just as he turned off the tap for the sink, Dee arrived in the kitchen. 

“I can take your plate,” Patton smiles, reaching a hand out to take it from his hands. 

Dee flinched. It was so sudden Patton almost missed it. Patton took his hand back but Dee quickly relaxed his features and smirked at him. 

“Doing so much for us on your first day. Surely you’ll burn out at this rate.”

Patton furrowed his eyebrows, continuing to scrub the utensils in the sink as he tried to choose his words wisely. “This isn’t too much. This is all in the job description.”

Dee laughed, leaning against the counter. “I’m sure stopping fights is in your job description.”

Patton dried his hands before turning to face Dee. He bit his lip before smiling. “I’m sure stopping a fight is part of keeping you safe and happy.”

“Well, sure.” Dee stumbled with his words for a second. “But don’t you think your time could have been better spent at the house and waiting for us to come home?”

Despite the tone, Patton knew the question was genuine. He saw the curiosity and disbelief in his eyes. He could hear Dee’s real question: why did you drop everything to come get us?

Patton opened his mouth to respond but the twins burst into the kitchen before any sound left his lips. 

“Deeeeeeeeee!” They whined in unison. 

The corner of Dee’s lips quirked at the pair. “I know, I know. I’m coming.”

Without any explanation, the trio left Patton alone in the kitchen. Patton shook his head and turned back to the soapy water. He still had a few dishes to clean, after all. 


	10. Shopping is Cheaper Than Therapy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy has a short amount of patience if it’s anyone but their brothers.

It had been a peaceful month and two weeks. At least, for Remy it was. 

The twins were still as manic as the day they were born, Logan and Virgil were attached at the hip and got into frequent debates with one another (often ending in Virgil hissing and Logan’s smug smirk), Emile still spouted nonstop facts about various cartoons he was watching to anyone he could get his hands on, and Dee was still glowering at Patton’s every move. 

Remy knew Dee and Patton have a tentative alliance that is maintained solely by Patton doing well. And so far there have been no complaints. Even Remy was mildly surprised by Patton never raising his hand or voice to threaten the O’Neill children because of their past history with numerous nannies. 

Well, Remy was sure the peace would end as soon as Patton took all of them back-to-school shopping. 

This particular trip followed a very complex yet serious equation. Roman and Remus would only allow their materials to be bought in red and green respectfully. Emile grew hangry near noon and it was best to feed him as soon as his hunger was brought to attention. Virgil needed to slip away sometimes with Logan when the crowds got too big and it was always a mystery whether you would see the duo in ten minutes or three hours later. Then Dee was there trying to herd the family like cats and usually away from people they knew to avoid conversation about the new school year. And Remy just wanted some damn coffee to survive the whole ordeal. 

Thinking about it now, it’s a miracle the O’Neills hasn’t been kidnapped yet. 

Nonetheless, Remy was interested in seeing this play out. This was Logan’s first shopping trip that included buying materials for his own school year, and while they could guess at what the tiny nerd would like, it was not guaranteed Logan would be a quick back-to-school shopper. 

“Do we have everyone?” Patton asked, double checking behind him as the buckle clicked into place. 

“Yes!” Emile exclaimed, wiggling in his seat. 

“Onwards, my friends!” Roman cheered and Remus cackled manically. 

Patton started the vehicle and backed out of the garage. The radio hummed out a quiet tune as various conversations were held on the way. The only two not to participate were Dee and Patton. 

Remy hated the hour long drive to the mall. They loved their siblings with all their heart but being in confined quarters with them was enough to drive anyone slightly insane. It was guaranteed that Roman and Remus would get into several arguments, Logan and Virgil would start one of their debates, Emile would sing loudly to the radio, and Remy would suffer. 

It was a miracle Patton was smiling throughout the trip, only asking them to lower their voices when going through particularly rough patches of traffic. He didn’t even look stressed when the vehicle was finally parked. 

Remy scrambled out of the vehicle, desperate for any fresh air they could get. Roman and Remus followed suit, bickering over who would get the coolest backpack this year. Virgil was helping Logan step out and Dee was seemingly having a stare off with Patton. 

After a few minutes, Remy knocked on the window, startling the pair. “We don’t have all day, babes.”

Patton double checked locking the vehicle before unfurling a long list. “Okay, there’s quite a bit on here for you kiddos. Do we want to divide and conquer or get everything together?”

Everyone looked to Dee for a verdict, who quickly answered. “We’ll try to stick together.”

Try was a good word, Remy thought, snorting. 

Everyone partnered up for the extravaganza they were about to enter. Virgil had Logan’s hand locked in his grip, Emile followed closely behind Remy, and Dee took charge of the twins who were insisting they could walk fine by themselves  _ oh please Dee, we will be good.  _

“You’re not walking by yourself,” Dee ended the argument by grabbing each of the twins hands in his own, who each grumbled slightly before tugging their oldest brother to the entrance. 

Remy was grateful a hoard of shoppers did not decide to be at the mall at the same time as them. They could already feel their patience draining. 

The first few stores went by in a blur. Remy found themselves holding both Emile’s and their own bags as they walked around, not overly burdened by the weight but wouldn’t say no to a break. 

God or Fate or whatever you subscribe to seemed to be smiling down on Remy in that moment as they passed a Starbucks. 

Remy bumped their hip against Virgil’s as they passed. “Coffee break.”

Virgil gave a brisk nod before continuing to follow Patton. “I take it black.”

“I know, babe,” Remy smiled before approaching the counter. 

Remy gazed quickly at the menu, scanning for something to catch their interest before ordering. 

“Welcome to Starbucks,” came a bored tone. “Can I take your order?”

“You absolutely can!” Remy grinned, tapping their fingers on the counter before relaying their order. 

Once the transaction went through, Remy smiled at the barista. “Thanks, hun.”

And, because Remy is a little shit, they threw in a wink, which had the barista in question sputtering and turning a deep shade of red. 

Once their name was called, Remy collected the drinks and took a long sip, sighing as the tension in their shoulders drained. They pulled out their phone and shot a text to Virgil to see where they were meeting up. 

Remy took their time making their way to where their brothers were, allowing themselves to gaze in some of the shops they passed. When they returned, they were met with the sight of the twins arguing over some sort of fabric. 

“I saw it first, dummy!” Roman growled, giving the object a yank. 

“Nu-uh, stupid! It’s mine.” Remus responded with a yank of his own. 

Remy smirked as they saw Dee sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose. Dee grabbed a backpack (that’s what that was!) identical to the one in the hands of the twins and shoved it into Roman’s hands. 

“There, now you both can have one.” Dee smiled, though you could tell his patience was running a bit thin. 

“Thanks, Dee!” They both chirped, before running ahead to got down a new aisle. 

“Coffee.”

Remy turned around to see Virgil making grabby hands at the cup in their hands. With a raised eyebrow, Remy took a long sip of their own before handing it over. 

“Remy! Remy! Look what I got!”

Remy turned around to see Emile sporting a new button up shirt with Steven Universe quotes twisting around. He twirled and giggled and Remy smiled. 

“Whatcha think, big bro?”

There was a slight twist in their gut, but they smiled nonetheless. “Looks stunning, babe.”

Emile giggled before skipping over to Dee. Remy let out a shaky breath and drank their coffee. 

After all, they never told their brothers what pronouns they preferred. 


	11. Star-Spangled Shop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton is a pro shopper, if he does say so himself.

It had been a hectic month and two weeks. At least, for Patton it was. 

He had his ups and downs with the kids, but he can confidently say he has memorized most of their quirks. 

He knows Logan is the first one up for breakfast but will only eat the blandest and smallest food items put in front of him. Roman and Remus like to try and trick Patton about which twin they are and love dragging anyone they can out to the backyard to play. Emile just wants to help out with everything, whether it’s cooking or cleaning or setting up game night. Remy likes to go out a lot, and Patton never presses where he goes because he knows the importance of getting away for a while, but he always ensures that he has his cell on him and Patton’s number before letting him leave. Virgil likes painting in his room and will refuse to leave when he’s ‘in the zone’ but Logan can usually convince him to come to meals and take short breaks. Dee never lets Patton stay in the room with any of his brothers without him for longer than ten minutes, and resolutely sits by him during every chance so that his brothers don’t have to. 

Not to say that he was perfect. Patton learned most of these facts through trial and error, and a lot of judgmental expressions from Dee. 

However, Patton has adapted to meet their needs and ensuring they were comfortable with him at all times. (_He also hoped Dee was noticing how hard he was trying because he just wants Dee to feel safe and happy too but he’s seen no signs of that happening so he’ll just keep trying)_. 

Patton was grateful he made it pass the promised month without any major incidents. He may have set Virgil off once by dropping a glass while cleaning but Virgil kept Dee at bay and told his brother to lighten up, so he counted it as a win in his books. 

Taking the brothers shopping was a little nerve wracking, he admits. He never had all of the brothers in a crowded area before and he knew Virgil and Logan were quick to be overwhelmed by lots of noise and people. However, his offer to split up was quickly discarded by Dee, and the small group set into the mall for a hopefully peaceful trip. 

“Where’s Remy?” Patton asked, glancing behind him and noticing he’d lost one of the kids. _Oh gosh, he lost one of them but he’s sure he couldn’t have gone too far and. . . _

“Coffee break,” Virgil murmured, walking past Patton into the next store. 

Patton felt a bit of tension leave his shoulders. He quickly checked his phone before following the brothers closely. 

They had most of the things they needed, just a few odds and ends like backpacks and a couple of new clothes before they would be able to leave. Patton grinned as he watched Emile sprint over to one of the displays and happily held up a Steven Universe shirt up to Patton. 

“Looks awesome, kiddo! Let’s try it on before we get it.” Patton led Emile to the change rooms and waited patiently for the small boy to try it on. 

Virgil and Dee found a few shirts they liked as well, and Patton gladly paid for the articles as he had never seen the kids so relaxed while they were out of the house. 

However, he was slightly disappointed to see Logan as passive as always. He never showed any inclination to the things they were buying, only giving subtle nods to Virgil when asked a question. And it was up to the two oldest brothers to prompt Logan into making a decision and sharing his opinion. 

He worried about Logan quite often. Usually kids wanted to go to the park or go outside and play with their siblings but Logan only ever wanted to stick by Virgil’s side and read a book. Patton tried asking him if he wanted to go do something like get ice cream down the street or wanted to go to the park with his brothers. While he never declined, he didn’t seem to feel strongly one way or the other. The only time he had seen Logan’s eyes lit up were they went to the library or he engaged him in a conversation about stars. 

Don’t get him wrong, Patton loved making Logan happy and would gladly take Logan to the library everyday or talk with him for hours about constellations and various other aspects about space but this was also going to be Logan’s first year of school. Patton didn’t want logan to not be unable to feel comfortable to ask for what he wants. He didn’t want Logan to not be able to make friends and be lonely. 

Patton jumped when he felt a hesitant tug on his hand and was delighted when he saw Logan looking a the floor. 

“What’s up kiddo?” Patton asked, stopping his strides for the youngest O’Neill. 

“I need to use the washroom and Virgil’s busy.” Logan stated and Patton looked up to see Virgil browsing a rack of shirts with Emile. 

“Well, let’s go.” Patton replies cheerfully, and carefully led Logan through the crowds to the nearest bathroom. 

Logan stuck to his side the entire journey, walking surprisingly briskly for such a small kid. 

When they arrived, Patton sent a quick text to let Dee know where they were before waiting for the boy. He tried to hide a smile as Logan insisted he was ‘five and won’t be needing ass-is-tance’ as he toddled into the nearest stall. Patton was surprised at how quick Logan was to return to his side after a brief five minutes. 

“Did you wash your hands?” Patton questioned. 

Logan wrinkled his nose. “Of course. It would be dis-gust-ing to let germs sit on my hands.”

Patton chuckled and weaved through the crowds to return to the brothers. Logan was quick to return to Virgil’s side, who instantly ruffled the smaller boys hair. He smiled, seeing Emile twirling in front of a recently returned Remy. 

“Whatcha think, big bro?”

Patton swore he saw Remy’s lips twitch uncomfortably before schooling his expression with a lazy grin. “Looks stunning, babe.”

It didn’t go past Patton that Remy’s hands were shaking on his coffee cup, but he also knew a talk in the middle of the store would not be beneficial for either of them. 

Patton noticed it was nearing one o’clock, and Emile’s former excitement was quickly dimming. He clapped his hands together. “I think it’s time for lunch. You kiddos ready to eat?”

Emile and the twins were quick to nod, scurrying over to Patton as if the faster they were at his side the faster they would get to eat. 

Everyone paired up and followed Patton to the food court. The twins would occasionally drift away from Dee, but the eldest O’Neill was quick to grab their hands before they strayed too far. After finding a table and giving money to each group, he allowed them to walk off to get food as he kept a watchful eye on all of them. 

Once they returned to the table, Patton allowed himself to go get something to eat. He grabbed the tray and thanked the people at the counter before heading towards the kids. When he sat down, they all grew silent which worried Patton a little but he wasn’t a stranger for times like this to occur. 

“Well,” Patton began, scrolling though the list on his phone. “We appear to have everything but some new clothes for Remy and Logan. Is there anything else you kiddos can think of that we need?”

Patton was unsurprised to see the brothers all turn to Dee, who answered in the negative. Patton then let them enjoy their food as Roman and Remus gleefully bantered back and forth. Logan and Virgil were quietly conversing while Emile was engaging Dee and Remy in a avid account of the newest episode of Steven Universe. 

When the garbage was thrown out and the trays were returned, the kids paired back up and continued their way, stopping every once in a while at a store one of the boys wanted to look at. Remy concluded the trip by buying a pair of sunglasses to replace the ones he currently had. 

“What are you going to do with your old ones?” Emile asked, tugging slightly on the older boys arms. 

Remy hummed before placing them delicately on the other boys nose. “You can have them, Sunshine.”

Emile giggled before thanking his older brother. He turned to Patton. “How cool do I look?” 

“Cooler than an ice cube.” Patton grinned, causing the younger to grin in return. 

Right before the small gang left the doors, Patton saw Logan stop for a brief moment, staring at something in one of the stores, but because Virgil didn’t stop (not noticing Logan had) and Logan was tugged along. 

“Wait up, kiddos! I think I saw something in that store.” Patton said loudly before spinning on his heel and entering the store Logan was staring into. 

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Logan was staring at. Set on one of the mannequins was a kid-sized star-patterned shirt with various constellations labeled. Logan seemed to be restraining himself from heading over to see the shirt closer, so Patton took it upon himself and made a big show of walking up and inspecting the article. 

“Hey, Logan! I think this would be something you’re interested in.”

Logan hesitantly came over to Patton and touched the cloth. “It’s. . . cool.”

Patton beamed. “Let’s find one in your size.”

Logan nodded and helped Patton search through the stack of shirts, meticulously unfolding and refolding each shirt he touched. He held one up to Patton, who smiled and led him to the change rooms. He was ecstatic to see Logan’s eyes beam with excitement when he came out of the change room. 

“Looking good, Lo.” Virgil commented, giving a thumbs up. 

Once he changed out of his shirt, Patton paid for the clothing and let Logan carry the bag back to the vehicle. Logan seemed to be swinging his arms more and Patton felt his heart soften at how ecstatic Logan seemed. 

Dee helped arrange the shopping bags in the trunk while the others crawled into their respective seats. As the last bag was put into place and Patton closed the trunk, he felt a hand grab his upper arm. 

Dee bit his lip, as if contemplating his next words. “Logan. . . looks very happy.”

Patton knew that was Dee’s way of thanking him, and Patton smiled in response. 

He slipped into the drivers seat, doing a quick headcount before turning on the ignition. A couple minutes into the drive, Patton glances in the mirror to see Logan slumped in his seat and the twins drooling over each other. 

Patton let a happy sigh escape him. He couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.


	12. Friends in Wrong Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Remus are actually pretty close and Roman likes having friends.

Roman and Remus were always the babies of the family. They were used to getting their way from any of their brothers. Emile was easy because there was only two years between them at 8 and 10 respectively (_and since he’s a kid like us he wants to have fun too, Ree_). The twins also knew that Emile was super proud to be an older brother and wanted to make them happy. Neither of the twins were above a little bit of manipulation to get their way either. Remy the twins weren’t sure why he went along with their schemes when he was much cooler (_obviously, he wears sunglasses, Ro_) and older (_14 is super old, Ree! Like, ancient!_). Nonetheless, the brothers knew if they wanted something and were willing to put up with some teasing they would go to Remy. Virgil was a good bet if they needed permission to do something cool and needed one of their oldest brothers to say yes. Virgil was all too willing to let the twins get away with stuff as long as their homework is done (_you do half the problems, I’ll do the other, and we’ll be done super duper fast!_) and he had almost as much say as Dee. However, it sometimes not matter how much pouting they do to Virgil, they sometimes have to go to Dee (_other kids have “go ask your mom”. We have “go ask Dee”_). Remus always seemed to have more luck with their oldest brother (_he likes me more than you_) but even with their best smiles and saddest eyes sometimes Dee cannot be swayed and they’ll instead be sent off to clean their room. 

Having Logan as the new baby was both good and bad in the eyes of the twins. Good, because their brothers weren’t as focused on what they were doing because Logan was a baby and needed constant attention. Bad, because they became a second priority. 

Remus took this slightly harder than Roman because of their relationships with their parents. While Roman was a “mommy’s boy”, Remus was the twin to follow their dad around the house ever since he could walk. It was difficult for Dee, age 12 at the time, to sit them down and explain that dad wasn’t going to be home anymore because there was an accident but the good news was they had a new brother. Remus didn’t want Logan and demanded that Dee trade them back, which led to another discussion on how that wasn’t an option. Roman stuck by his twins side as they sulked in their room with all of the anger and resentment and frustration three year olds could have. 

There were plenty of arguments and tears as the twins adjusted to a new routine. But after a while the twins could see the tension their older brothers hadas they had to calm another tantrum down from the twins as Logan was also crying. It was a three on three situation but all of them knew Virgil wasn’t one to really be able to handle all of the noise and was left to deal with Logan. 

The twins remembered how happy their brothers used to be and decided that it was harder for their older brothers because they had to watch over Logan and be sad at the same time, and both twins agreed that Logan was the problem. All he did was cry which undoubtedly only added to the bags under their brothers eyes. 

This led to many ninja missions where the twins tried to smuggle Logan out of the house to take him somewhere far, far away but the main obstacle was Dee, who seemed to have a sixth sense about the shenanigans the twins got up to (_I swear he has eyes in the back of his head, Ree!_). 

After a few more months of the constant fighting, everyone was surprised when Virgil, age 10 and as quiet as ever, asked Dee to take Remy and Emile to the park and he had a conversation with the boys. 

The twins glowered on the couch across from where Virgil sat with Logan in his lap, arms crossed and evident pouts on their lips. 

Virgil said, rubbing Logan’s tiny hand with his thumb. “I know dad being gone is really hard for you guys. I know you guys are angry and sad and scared. Trust me, I do.” 

Both twins watched their older brother bite his lip as he contemplated his next words. 

Before he could say anything else, the phone started ringing. Virgil carefully passed Logan into Remus’ arms, setting up pillows to support both brothers, telling them he’d be back quickly, before leaving the living room to answer the phone. 

Both boys stared at Logan. Logan stared back, before giggling and reaching for Remus‘ face. Stunned, Remus tried to stay as still as possible and let his face be carefully prodded by tiny fingers. Roman, not one to be left out, carefully gave Logan his finger and watched in awe as Logan gripped his finger with a tiny fist. 

In that moment, both twins came to the understanding that they would be the bestest older brothers at all costs, and protect their baby brother with their lives (_like real life princes, Ro!_). 

Virgil watched from the kitchen, a smug smirk on his face as he saw his younger brothers getting along (_he’s super strong, Ree. Do you think he’ll be like a dinosaur? Rawr!!_)

* * *

The first day of school was always the hardest. At least, for Remus it was. 

Everyone was waiting patiently by the door as Remus was tying his shoes, but his mind was in a never ending loop of this morning. 

The first thing to happen was his alarm didn’t go off, which resulted in the twins racing around their rooms to get dressed fifteen minutes before they had to leave. Consequently, Remus didn’t get to eat breakfast with his brothers like they usually did and was forced to chew a pop tart while he grabbed all of his things. Then, Roman accidentally spilled his milk on his new green alien shirt and was forced by Dee to go change. 

And now everyone’s staring at him. Because he _woke up late, resulting in not getting to eat breakfast with his brothers, and Roman tripping and spilling his milk, and now he. . . _

“Here, let me help.”

Remus stared dumbly as Remy effortlessly tied his shoes in quick succession. Remus thanked him quietly, receiving a grunt in recognition. 

Patton had drove the vehicle up up to the front after offering to drive the brothers on their first day. Everyone piled in and Patton headed to the elementary school first. 

Logan was the first out of the vehicle, eager to start his very first day. Remus wished he could share the sentiment. 

Emile waved goodbye cheerfully, before running over o a small group of kids waiting for him. 

“Don’t forget to walk Logan to his class,” Dee called out the window. 

Remus nodded seriously, watching Roman roll his eyes. Roman rolled his eyes. _Roman rolled his eyes. _

“Roman! Dude! You’ll never guess what happened last week!”

Remus rolled his eyes, watching Roman’s “best friend” run up to the trio. Said “best friend” had the front of his hair dyed red and wore such plain colours that Remus was surprised he had caught the attention of his twin. Roman smiled brightly letting himself be dragged away to his own group of friends. Remus growled, unconsciously squeezing Logan’s hand with his own. 

_ Ro said we’d both be taking Logan. Where does he think he’s. . . _

“Are you not going to go with them?” Logan asked, tugging on Remus’ hand to get his attention. Remus saw the scared look in Logan’s eyes, knowing he feared that Remus would abandon him too. But Remus always kept his word, and he promised Dee he would get Logan to his classroom. 

Remus smirked, feeling his chest get a little heavier. “Nah. They couldn’t handle two awesome twins like me and Ro.”

“Ro and I,” Logan mumbled, and Remus took the opportunity to ruffle his hair. 

“Well, let’s get a move on! It’s not everyday my baby brother starts his first day of kindergarten!”

Hand in hand, Remus led Logan through the halls to the lower grade hallway. Remus knew the layout of the school like the bottom of his foot, and Logan seemed impressed that Remus never hesitated in his steps. The students seemed to part for them as they walked passed, sending Remus disgusted looks. Remus wondered what rumour about him was going around this time. 

When they arrived at the right door, Remus turned Logan’s shoulders towards him for a quick once over. He licked his thumb and quickly rubbed at a smudge on Logan’s face, who tried to squirm out of his grip. Deeming him good to go, he turned to head to his own class before a small hand stopped him. 

“What if. . .” Logan trailed off, staring at the ground. 

The warning bell rang, but Remus didn’t make a move to leave. “What if what?”

“What if. . . no one wants to sit with me?” Logan fixed his glasses nervously. 

Remus laughed, though he tried to make sure it wasn’t as hollow as he felt. “What if a meteor strikes the school? Killing us all instantly?”

“That’s. . . That’s per-post-er-ous!” Logan sputtered looking at his older brother. 

“Well, it’s _perpetual_ that kids won’t like you. You’re awesome!”

“I said per-poster-ous.” Logan titled his head. 

“_Potatomous_. Anywho, why dwell on what-ifs? If no one sits with you, then that means you get to sit with whoever you want.”

“Preposterous. I’m serious, Remus.” Logan nudged Remus with his hand. 

“_Polyester_. But if you’re really concerned, lunch for all the grades is in the cafeteria. You can come sit with your cool older brother if none of those nose-picking brats like you.”

“That was not even close to what I said.” Logan seemed to relax at his words, turning towards the kindergarten door with determination. 

“Go get ‘em, tiger!” Remus cheered, and Logan purposefully walked into the classroom. 

Remus smiled, watching Logan introduce himself to the teacher before hearing the second bell. And with that, he spun on his heel and booked it to his own classroom. 

Surprisingly, Remus was able to slip into the classroom without any remarks of his tardiness from the teacher. He quickly found his seat and dumped his bag at his feet, letting the chatter of his classmates wash over him. 

He thought about trying to join in the conversation about a supposed UFO sighting that was happening to his left, but knew better then to speak up when people were already talking. He sighed, wishing the day was already over. 

“Heya, Martian.”

Remus felt his stomach plummet as a hand hit his desk. He tiredly raised his eyes to the body attached to the hand. 

“What do you want?” 

“Had a question for ya.” A smirk graced his lips as he drummed his fingers on the desk. _Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Thu-_

“Rumour says you like-like some kindergarten kid. You were holding hands and everything.”

Remus sighed, connecting the looks in the hallway earlier to his statement. “I don’t li-“

Said hand attached to the body roughly grabbed the front of Remus’ hair where his grey streak was prominent. Remus was forced to meet his eyes with a boy almost a head taller then him, smirking at the obvious pain he was giving Remus. 

“Mr. Harrison! What are you doing to Mr. O’Neill?”

The hand instantly dropped from his hair, and Remus quickly rubbed the area to soothe it. The boy in question turned to the teacher with an air of innocence. “I’m not sure what you mean, sir. Remus here started. . .”

“That’ll be recess detention for you, Mr. Harrison. One full week.” 

Mouths dropped throughout the classroom, wondering how the ever “Mr. Perfect Seth” was being punished by a teacher. 

“But. . . Sir, surely you didn’t see. . .” Seth tried weakly. 

The teacher pinched the bridge of his nose. “Would you like to add another week, Mr. Harrison?”

Everyone quickly sat in their seats, not eager to be the new target of their teacher. Once Seth grumbled his way across the classroom, the teacher grabbed a marker and wrote his name on the board. 

_ Mr. Auguste _

“My name is Mr. Auguste.” He capped his marker to turn back to the class. “My expectations are simple. One: show respect. And that means to everyone. Two: be on time. I don’t appreciate tardiness. Three: ask questions. You’re here to learn and you can’t do that by remaining clueless. Any questions?”

The room was eerily silent, and Remus felt a genuine smile on his lips. 

“Let’s get started.”

* * *

Roman animatedly boasted about his own weekend to his friends, waving his hands around in grand gestures as if he were talking about slaying some horrible beast rather than what he had for dinner three nights ago. 

“And then Ree said tha-“

“No offence, Roman.” Oliver placed a hand on Roman’s shoulder, halting his story. “But we don’t really want to talk about Remus.”

“Yeah,” Jordan jumped in, towering over the group of friends with his ridiculous height. “Did you guys hear that he like-like’s a kindergartener?”

“Ewww!” The group of boys giggled, and Roman frowned. 

“That can’t be true. Where’d you hear that?”

“Everyone saw them in the hallway holding hands,” Colby informed him, wrinkling his nose as if he could catch a disease simply by saying those words. 

“Wait,” Roman furrowed his brows. “Do you mean Logan? That’s our little brother.”

With a sinking feeling, Roman remembered that he was supposed to take Logan to kindergarten with Remus, but surely they understood the importance of him catching up with his friends, right?

“You mean he like-likes your little brother? That’s gross!” Oliver exclaimed, taking a step away from Roman. “Since he’s your twin, do you like-like your brother too?”

“No way!” Roman was quick to respond. He could see the judgmental looks cast his way by the three boys. “I’m not Remus.”

He’s not Remus. Remus doesn’t have friends at school because he doesn’t try and Remus sits alone at lunch because no one wants to talk to him. Roman likes everyone and tries to be friends because then they like him and that’s really important. Remus thinks everyone is stupid so people don’t like him but people like Roman because Roman tries really really hard to get people to like him. Roman is not Remus. 

“That’s good,” Colby smiled. “We’d have to tell everyone if you felt like Remus did.”

Roman bit his tongue to keep himself from speaking. He vaguely listened to their conversation as they entered their classroom. Roman was guiltily thankful for being in a different class then Remus, glad he didn’t have to face Remus anytime soon. Roman probably had enough time to get rid of the gross feeling in his stomach by then. 

Roman found his seat and pulled out his pencil case, letting his friends “_oooh_” and “_aaah_” over his shiny new markers. He was proud that he had convinced Dee to let him get the 64 marker pack compared to the regular 24 pack. There were tons of more colours he had then his peers, and he humbly allowed everyone to look at them. 

Just then, a very pretty lady walked in and set her things down on the teachers desk. She wrote her name on the board in fancy writing. 

_ Miss. Truckey  _

She smiled at the class. “Good morning, everyone! My name is Miss Truckey, but you can call me Miss T if you’d like. I want to start the day off with some icebreaker games. Let’s sit in a circle. Come on, kids. Okay! I’ll start by saying my name and something interesting about myself. Hi! My name is Miss T and I own two cats named Pearl and Prince.”

Introductions went around the circle. Roman bounced slightly in his spot, wondering what he could say that would be the coolest, most awesomest fact he could share. 

“My names Richie, I’m the fastest grade three boy!” The boy beside him spoke proudly, then pointed at Roman with an unfriendly sneer. “That’s _Remus_. He’s a freak for aliens.”

“I’m Roman!” He declared loudly, glaring at the boy who turned red in response. “And I have six brothers named Dee, Virgil, Remy, Emile, Remus, and Logan.”

“That’s a lot of siblings,” Miss T commented, before ushering the next child to speak. 

Roman sat there, confused for a second. Usually teachers said something if a kid said something mean about another kid, but Miss T just kept the introductions going. He watched blankly as the rest of the circle finished and Miss T clapped her hands loudly, making several kids jump. 

“I hope you kids had fun! Now, I want us to start with some reading, so let’s go to the library to pick out some books!”

Everyone was quick to line up at the door, wanting to be the line leader. Roman just found a spot in the middle of the line between Oliver and Colby, who were talking over him about how they wanted to find some dinosaur books. 

Roman has a sinking feeling about this year. 


	13. Not (Lonely)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton is so excited for these kiddos first day of school. . . Until he returns to the house, that is.

Patton was, for lack of a better term, completely and utterly _screwed. _

It was first day of school. Leading up to it, everyone seemed pretty excited. Heck, even Patton was getting excited for the kiddos. Shopping went well and Logan had seems especially pumped for his first day. Dee had been herding his siblings around the house for the past week to get everything together but everything seemed to be going well. 

Until the morning of. 

Patton set his alarm to make breakfast, as was routine in the O’Neill household, and decided to make a family favourite for the big day: pancakes. Everything was picture perfect: the pancakes were fluffy, the table was set, lunches were packed. . .

_ Where were the kids? _

Patton carefully climbed the stairs to the first bedroom in the hall. He knocked hesitantly, receiving a confirmation to enter. The door slowly swung open to reveal Virgil helping Logan get dressed for his first day. Patton smiled, seeing Virgil show Logan how to button up the star shirt they had bought on their shopping trip before clipping on a small tie to complete the outfit, which adorably contrasted Virgil’s own outfit of ripped jeans and his purple-patched hoodie. 

“Pancakes are ready when you kids are.” Patton informed them and Virgil let a brief grunt before Patton left the room. 

The next room was Emile’s, and the door was wide open. Peering in, Patton saw the small boy happily humming to the tune of Steven Universe, kicking his legs slightly as the episode came to an end. 

“Breakfast is ready, kiddo.” Patton spoke, causing Emile to yelp as he fell off his bed. 

“I’m a-okay, Mr. Hart.” Emile quickly jumped to his feet, running past the older man to the stairs. 

Patton chuckled fondly before continuing down the hall. Patton knocked on Remy’s door, who seemed to have rolled out of bed when he opened the door if his hair was any indication. 

“Be right down, Mr. Hart.” Remy mumbled with his eyes squinted, before letting the door creak shut. 

Patton turned to Dee’s door. As he raised his fist to knock, the door unexpectedly swung open, revealing an equally shocked Dee. 

Patton cleared his throat. “Breakfast is ready. Pancakes. I just need to get the twins.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout them,” Dee yawned. “They have an alarm so I’m sure they’ll be down shortly.”

Patton nodded, trusting Dee’s word as they both made their way to the kitchen. They were greeted by Emile’s excited voice re-enacting a scene from the episode he just watched and Remy’s tired nods and hums. Virgil was trying to convince Logan to eat more of the food or at the very least _put some syrup on, Teach_. But Logan adamantly refused and stubbornly ate his pancakes plain. 

Dee sat next to Virgil and began loading his plate with his own serving. Patton joined them, serving himself as well as listening to Emile’s excited chatter. 

“Hey, kiddos.” The instant Patton spoke, everyone fell silent to look at him. He bit his lip before continuing, “I was just wondering if you’d like me to drive you today, and pick you up after school.”

Emile smiled and the corners of Remy’s mouth twitched upwards. Virgil seemed to hide a laugh behind his hoodie sleeve while Logan just looked confused. There seemed to be an inside joke that made Patton equally as lost as Logan. 

“That won’t be necessary,” Dee pulled the fixed the cuffs of his shirt, not meeting Patton’s gaze. “Your services will not be. . .”

“We’d love a ride.” Virgil interjected, effectively surprising everyone at the table.“To and from the school.”

Patton blinked once. Twice. “Of course.”

Dee glowered at Virgil, but Virgil blatantly ignored him as he placed half of a pancake on Logan’s plate. “Eat up, Lo. It’s a big day today.”

Logan grumbled slightly, but one look from Virgil had him stabbing the small pieces with his fork. 

Patton checked the time, frowning before turning to Dee. “The twins aren’t down yet. Should I go check on them?”

Dee frowned as well, but stood up before answering. “I’ll see what they are up to.”

Patton took the opportunity to clean up the finished plates of the kids who were done eating, placing them in the sink to do once he dropped them off. 

He pulled out several lunchboxes from the fridge and lining them up on the counter. He saw Emile tilt his head at him, counting the boxes. 

“Are those. . . for us?” He asked Patton. 

Patton grinned. “You bet! I packed everyone’s favourites.”

The brothers didn’t look like they knew how to respond, as well as appeared awkward. To diffuse the situation, Patton let himself out and told the kids he’d bring the van to the front. 

As Patton put the key in the ignition, he sat silently without turning the key. He had known the kids for over two months and they were still shocked by the small kindness Patton granted them. 

In the beginning, Patton knew the kids would distrust him and probably even hate him. He knew they’d had dozens of nannies infiltrate their home and leave in the blink of an eye. As time passed, however, Patton was getting a sinking feeling that this distrust had deeper roots then he never would even begin to dig up. 

Patton knew first-hand how adults you trusted could turn on you in the blink of an eye. He knew how that could break a kid at a young age. 

But every sudden move he made, every plate he broke, every time his voice rose only twisted his heart as the kids reacted negatively. If he hadn’t been so perceptive he probably never would have noticed. 

_ But Patton knew the signs.  _

Shaking his head, he turned the key in the ignition and left the garage. He pulled up to the front door, watching the O’Neill children file out of the house. Dee locked the door behind him before following his siblings to the van. 

“Everyone buckled up?” Patton asked, getting affirmation from every seat. “Hope nothing _lessons_ your enthusiasm for going back to school!”

An audible groan is heard from Dee as Virgil chuckles. “I’m walking.” He deadpans. 

Patton maintains eye contact with Dee as he puts the vehicle in drive. “Too late! The car’s rolling.”

He headed to the elementary school first, pulling into the drop off zone. 

Logan was quick to unbuckle his seat and jump onto the pavement. Patton sadly smiled watching Virgil look so anxious to see his youngest brother leave the vehicle. Emile waved quickly to his family before running off to his friends, chattering amicably as they walked into the building. 

Dee unrolled his window, looking sternly at the twins. “Don’t forget to walk Logan to his class.”

With a firm nod from Remus, Patton pulled away from the school to go up the hill to the other kids school. He parked the vehicle and chuckled as Remy seemed to drag himself from the backseat to the pavement. He left with a wink, sashaying his way to the front doors. 

Virgil waited for Dee to climb out before they made their way to the school together. However, Patton could t waste this opportunity. 

He rolled down the window before the kids could get out of earshot. “Remember, no _punning_ in the hall!”

He saw Virgil’s shoulders shake, and Patton counted that as an accomplishment. He made sure the O’Neill children made it into the school, and waited just a few more minutes to make sure they were _absolutely okay_ before taking the vehicle out of park. 

It was really quiet on the drive back home. He knew, _logically_, that since there were no kids the vehicle would not be filled with conversation. However, it was oddly suffocating to go from seven kiddos to none. 

He parked the vehicle in the garage and slowly made his way to the kitchen to clean the mess of breakfast. He half expected Emile to come offer to help with the dishes before remembering that he had just dropped them off at school. Patton made sure his phone was off silent and close enough to grab. _You know, just in case they needed him. Or something happened. <strike>Or they were as lonely as he felt. </strike>_

He shook his head, drying and putting away the last plate. What was he even doing? He had known the kids for two months and he was feeling abandoned. 

“I’ll put on a movie,” Patton whispered to himself, believing a bit of background noise would put him at ease. 

He cleaned the rest of the kitchen, and also the living room, and his own room, as well as all the windows, and the bathrooms to keep himself busy. He briefly entertained the thought of braving the attic to distract himself further but the creepy-crawly-death-dealers could be living there so it was probably best to leave the attic alone. . . _for now_. 

All of his cleaning had brought him to barely past noon, where he sat at the dining table by himself for all of two seconds before deciding to eat his lunch in the kitchen. 

So how is Patton screwed, you might ask? A very good question. It’s because those kids had stolen his heart, and now Patton had become a big ol’ softy while <strike>his</strike> the kiddos might not even feel the same.


	14. Lunchroom Shenanigans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emile is the oldest of the youngest and that’s all anyone really needs to know when he’s mad.

“I’m a-okay, Mr. Hart.”

Emile could feel his cheeks burning as he rushed past the nanny, hoping his blush would disappear before running into one of his brothers. 

Emile could hardly contain his excitement over today being the first day of school. He was known as the early riser of his brothers and was usually left up to his own devices to entertain himself until one of them woke up. But since it was school season, his brothers would be getting up even sooner!

When he was little and his dad told him he couldn’t wake mom up anymore because she had to work late at night and daddy had to care for the baby twins, he typically turned to waking up one of his older brothers to entertain himself. His brothers never turned him away as he whisper-shouted at them to wake up, but Emile always felt a twinge of guilt as they rolled out of bed to keep him busy so he didn’t go into their parents room. 

It was because of this that Remy actually got him into cartoons. When he was three and Remy was seven, his older brother led him to the couch and switched on the TV. 

“Watch this for a bit. You can wake me up after it ends.”

Remy laid on one end of the couch while Emile sat on the other. Although he was disgruntled by being ignored, his attention was caught by the story being told on the screen. Tiny blue men were singing in their little village where houses were made of toadstools. He was entranced by the villain and his cat, clutching a pillow to his tiny chest as his eyes flickered between characters. When the episode ended, his attention was stolen yet again; this time by a stuttering pig and rascally rabbit. 

He sat on the couch for over three hours watching Saturday morning cartoons. His little mind barely registered the sun starting to rise as cartoon after cartoon followed to keep him entertained. His father was surprised to see his bubbly child sitting still at 8 o’clock in the morning. 

“Heya, Sunshine.” His dad whispered, mindful of the sleeping Remy. 

Emile squealed and reached his arms up to his dad, who chuckled and obliged in picking him up. “Daddy! Daddy! Remy showed me little blue people on the TV! And then. . .”

His dad had hushed him, but the smile never left his face. “How ‘bout you tell me all about it as we make breakfast, hmm?”

* * *

Emile composed himself as he entered the dining room, pleasantly surprised to see the table set with pancakes. He sat in his seat before beginning to assemble his breakfast. Mr. Hart’s pancakes were super good!

“You’re eating at least two pancakes. No arguing.”

Emile looked up to see Virgil leading a pouting Logan to the table. Logan climbed up into his chair beside Virgil, glaring at the offending food. Emile has to suppress a giggle, but was positive his smile was in plain sight. 

Emile relished in the fluffiness of the pancake in his mouth, watching Virgil grab a pancake with his fork and plopping it onto Logan’s plate. “Start with one. What do you want on it?”

“Nothing.” Logan responded, grabbing his own utensils. 

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to be hungry before lunch if you eat it plain.”

“I enjoy pancakes plain.” Logan levelled an exasperated look towards the older brother and Emile gleefully watched the exchange. 

“Then you’re having three. Final offer.”

Logan furrowed his eyebrows in concentration before meeting Virgil’s gaze again. “Two and a half.”

“_Three_.” Virgil repeated and Logan sighed in defeat. 

Emile jumped when he felt someone sit next to him, turning to see Remy tiredly reaching to fill his plate. “Good morning, Remy!”

A chuckle was emitted from the elder boy. “G’morning, Sunshine.”

“That is not proper English.” Logan commented. 

Remy smirked at the youngest O’Neill. “G’morning, Moonlight.”

Emile saw Logan’s lips twitch upwards at the nickname. Even Virgil had a small smile on his face, and Emile was happy that his brothers were happy. 

“Hey, Remy! Guess what I was watching this morning!” 

Remy grunted, prompting the younger one to continue. 

“So a new Steven Universe was released last night and they replayed it this morning, which was super awesome!! And so basically the gems were like _pwah_! and Steven was all _gwah_! But the best part was. . .”

Emile tried to convey everything he had watched a few minutes ago, but his mind was getting ahead of his mouth. But Emile knew Remy understood, because he always understood what he was trying to say. 

A little while later, Mr. Hart and Dee came into the dining room. Emile could sense the tension in the room. Dee seated himself beside Virgil so that Mr. Hart was forced to sit by himself at the end of the table, which he was sure was very lonely. 

But Emile couldn’t just get up and sit beside the nanny because then Dee would make that face that made his stomach twist in knots and that wasn’t good for anyone. And he also had to finish the story he was telling Remy. 

“Hey, kiddos.” 

Emile fell silent instinctively, almost hearing an echo of _shut up, kid. _

“I was just wondering if you’d like me to drive you today, and pick you up after school.”

He could feel a grin stretch his lips when he cast a glance at Dee, who had a very pained expression. Emile saw Virgil’s shoulders shaking and a not so subtle glare from Dee telling them all to wipe the smiles off their faces. 

The O’Neills knew that the first day of school was very important for Dee for one very specific reason. The school year quickly became hectic as homework piled up and some of the brothers were joining an extra curricular. It actually started with their dad taking them out for ice cream after school on the first day and let everyone talk about their day. Emile could remember his first day of kindergarten, kinda. He mostly remembered his dad holding him up so he could see all of the flavours and let him get two scoops (chocolate and vanilla) with sprinkles on top. They sat by the window and Emile got to go first. He vaguely remembers telling them about a conversation he had with one of his classmates about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and who was the best one, but other than that it was a little fuzzy. 

Dee continued the tradition after dad passed away, but always claimed that taking his younger siblings out for ice cream and paying for them and even offering seconds didn’t mean he was going soft. He never failed to drag his siblings to the ice cream parlour after the first day, and Emile smiled thinking about the first time the twins got to experience the family tradition. 

The reason for the brothers finding this so humorous was because every year, without fail, something would come up and Dee had to figure out how to make it work. One year Remy had gotten after school detention and another year Virgil was asked for homework help and yet another year where the twins had wandered off to follow a butterfly. It became a game to see what obstacle the new year would bring, and it was always entertaining to see what Dee would do to avoid it. Dee was a mother hen through and through, which opened the opportunity to tease the oldest O’Neill whenever something threatened to break tradition. 

“That won’t be necessary,” Dee fiddled with the cuffs of his shirt, not meeting anyones gaze. “Your services will not be. . .”

“We’d love a ride.”

Emile swore he could hear a crack as everyone snapped their heads towards Virgil, who had an innocent face presented to the table. 

“To and from the school.”

Emile knew that he and Virgil were the only ones who actually kind of liked Mr. Hart. But it was still surprising that Virgil would blatantly speak up against Dee. 

“Of course.” Mr. Hart responded cheerfully and continued eating his breakfast. 

Emile saw the glare Dee sent Virgil, but was amused to see Virgil give all of his attention to Logan. “Eat up, Lo. It’s a big day today.”

Emile snickered at the face Logan made at their older brother. After a short debate, Logan ended up eating three pancakes to satisfy Virgil. 

“The twins aren’t down yet. Should I go check on them?”

Dee frowned, standing up. “I’ll see what they are up to.”

With Dee gone up the stairs, everyone resumed eating their meal in relative silence. Mr. Hart had gotten up sometime to clean the dishes but Emile didn’t hear the water running. After hearing some shuffling from the kitchen, Emile looked up at Mr. Hart, who was pulling out their lunch boxes which had obviously been packed. 

“Are those. . . for us?” He asked quietly. 

Mr. Hart grinned his famous grin. “You bet! I packed everyone’s favourites.”

Mr. Hart looked so happy, but when Emile took one glance at his siblings he knew his own confusion was reflected back at him. The last time Emile could remember someone else packing his lunch unprompted was their dad. 

“I’ll uh. . . I’m going to um. . . Bring the car out front, kiddos.” Mr. Hart stumbled his way out of the dining room to the garage.

Not even a minute later, the brothers at the table heard shouting from upstairs. Emile cast a nervous glance to Remy, who responded with a tired groan as he sipped more of his coffee. 

Dee flew into the kitchen to do something while the other O’Neill children listened to the banging and crashing above them. Five minutes later, two small bodies emerged into the dining room, jumping into their seats and reaching for some pancakes. 

“No time,” Dee told them, mysteriously materializing and shoving poptarts their way. 

“But _Dee~_” The twins whined. 

“No buts. Maybe next time you’ll remember to set an alarm.”

Roman huffed as he chewed his poptart while Remus bit his lip guiltily. Dee instructed everyone to get their bags to the front and wait for the trio. 

Emile went and grabbed his bag, along with the twins things. Just as Emile finished tying his shoes, he heard, “Remus, you can’t go to school with a stained shirt. Go change, _quickly_.”

Dee emerged with tense shoulders as he pulled Roman along to the front door. Roman remained quiet, quickly tying his shoes and avoiding Dee’s gaze. 

When Remus returned, he sat on the steps to tie his shoes. However, Emile could see the frustration in Remus’ eyes as he fumbled with the laces. 

“Here, let me help.” Remy got down on his knees to help the younger twin. 

“Remember, we’re getting ice cream after school, so don’t agree to anything.” Dee gave a pointed look at Virgil who grinned cheekily. “Since Vee agreed to being picked up after school, we can’t have any other commitments get in the way. I’m only dealing with one obstacle today. Let’s start heading out.”

Emile was the first out the door, followed by Logan and Virgil. He was the first the the vehicle and buckled himself into his usual seat. Once everyone was loaded up, Mr. Hart began to drive. 

* * *

“I don’t like Miss. Smallbrook.”

Emile scrunched his nose at his friend. “Yeah, she’s pretty mean.”

“_Exactly_! You know what she told me? That I can’t doodle on my notes anymore. But they don’t even get in the way!” 

Emile nodded seriously as Tyler began relating all of the days events to him on the way to the lunchroom. He knew his friend would likely never come up for air so Emile was safe with just nodding along for now. 

As they entered the doors, Emile was instantly beckoned over by a group of classmates. Tyler sat down with him, still ranting about the new teacher. 

“Hey, Emile. We have this spelling assignment in the other class and I was wondering if you could help me with it.”

“Sure!” Emile chirped, shifting his attention from Tyler, who had began telling the whole table his story from the start, to Mason. 

Emile’s attention was divided between a few of his friends as they asked for his help or advice. Not that he minded helping those in the group of twelve or so kids, but it would have been nice if he was asked about his summer. 

“Hey, E? Could you help me wi-“

“Bathroom.” Emile abruptly stood up. “I’ll help when I get back.”

He could feel a strange heaviness in his chest, but was sure a quick walk would get rid of it. The minute he stood up and began walking away, he scanned the room for his brothers. <strike>Hopefully for a distraction. </strike>

He spotted Roman sitting with his group of friends, laughing loudly at something the boy with red hair said to him. Emile didn’t feel like bugging him.

In the corner of the room, he saw Remus’ signature grey streak, and instantly sighed in relief for some unknown reason. He was surprised to see two other people sitting with him that were significantly smaller. They didn’t look like they would be his classmates. However, he smiled recognizing two of the three bodies. 

“Hey Ree! Hey Lo!” Emile greeted, sitting beside the twin. 

“Sal-u-ta-tions.” Logan nodded in return, taking out his food and sorting it on the table. 

The boy beside Logan grinned brightly up at Emile. “I’m Emmet! But my friends call me Emmie. Well, only Lo-Lo does, but that’s okay because he’s the bestest best friend in the whole world!” 

Emile sat silently as this little kid beside Logan bounced up and down in his seat, sharply contrasting with Logan’s signature look of ‘serious five year old’. The kid, Emmet, had curly brown locks and was wearing a Star Wars shirt and rips in his pants. He was also looking at Logan like he had personally hung the stars in the sky. 

But what shocked Emile most about the duo was how Logan allowed this strange boy to call him “Lo-Lo”. Logan was not that fond of nicknames because he wanted to be taken seriously. Emile could count the number of nicknames Logan allowed his brothers to call him on one hand. 

“I’m Emile, one of Logan’s brothers.” Emile smiled, almost laughing as Emmet’s eyes comically widened. 

“You have another brother? That’s like. .. a bajillion!” Emmet was tugging on Logan’s arm, but Logan made no move to remove his grip. Emile’s eyes trailed to Logan’s wrist, where a simple bracelet that wasn’t there this morning now resided. 

Logan pushed his glasses up his nose. “I have six older brothers, Emmie. I already told you this.”

“Sorry Lo-Lo.” Emmet said, but the smile never left his face. 

Emile had never seen Logan allow someone into his personal bubble so quickly. Logan was a kid of routine. He didn’t react very well to change so it was surprising to see this kid that he didn’t recognize being allowed to hang off of Logan and call him silly nicknames. 

_It had only been half a day and he had managed to befriend the most bubbly and loud five year old possible,_ Emile thought humorously. Anyone who saw the duo would surely think Logan didn’t like his companion. However, Emile is sure the look in Logan’s eyes could be rivalled with his expression when talking about space. He was glad Logan looked so happy with this new boy. 

“Hey Remus! Lo-Lo told me you have a twin! Is he here?” Emile was sure Emmet’s head was going to fall off if he kept whipping his head around. 

Remus looked pleasantly surprised by being addressed, causing Emile to frown in confusion. “I’m the cooler one of the two, obviously.” He responded with a smirk and pointed across the room. “Roman is over there. He’s the one beside the kid with the-“

“That’s my brother!” Emmet squealed, standing up and grabbing Logan’s hand. “We should go say hi.”

Logan quickly glanced over and nodded, allowing himself to be dragged by Emmet. 

Emile and Remus watched the two younger boys approach Roman’s table. Emile felt Remus’ shoulders tense beside him as Emmet tapped one of the boys on the shoulder. 

“Hey Seth! This is Lo-Lo! He’s my new bestest friend and he’s super duper smart! He knows a lot about space and-“ Emmet’s voice carried over the cafeteria, but Emile was more concerned with the brother beside him. 

“Ree, what’s wrong?” Emile asked gently, laying a hand on his shoulder. 

“I need to get Logan away from him.” Remus mumbled, but he was shaking. 

“Why? He looks fi-“ Emile watched this Seth kid sneer at his baby brother while pulling Emmet behind him. 

Emile was on his feet in seconds, barely registering Remus behind him. 

“Stay away from Emmet.” Seth snarled. “We don’t want freaks like you hanging around.”

“Hey!” 

Everyone in the cafeteria turned to watch Emile approach the table. Emile could feel anger welling up inside him. He carefully stepped in front of Logan and was grateful for being two years older then the twins because he had a significant height advantage. Poor Logan looked so confused and scared and Emile’s heart clenched. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” Emile glared. 

“Who’re you?” Seth challenged, but blanked when he looked behind Emile. 

Emile could feel the presence of his friends behind him as one placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey, _third-y_.” Tyler stepped up shoulder to shoulder with Emile. “You trying to pick a fight with us fifth graders?”

“Yeah, I suggest you back down, kid.” Mason was at Emile’s other shoulder, glowering at Seth. “Unless you plan on finding yourself on the floor crying.” 

Seth’s eyes flickered between the older boys, before his gaze fell on Roman with a smirk. Roman seemed to shrink down into his seat. 

“Roman,” Seth began, turning fully towards him. “Isn’t it pathetic to see your brothers need help to stand up to little ol’ me? Surely _you_ wouldn’t be so weak.”

Emile was expecting a lot of things. He was expecting Roman to stand up and come to his brothers side. He was expecting him to laugh and say something mean to his classmate. He was expecting some sort of reaction from his younger brother.

But Roman looked down and said nothing. 

“You’re being a real meanie!”

Everyone watched in shock as Emmet yanked his arm from his older brother and came to stand beside Logan. 

Emmet pointed at Seth. “You’re being a jerk for no reason. I don’t want to be you’re brother if it means Lo-Lo can’t be my bestest friend!”

Emmet was as intimidating as a puppy, but it was obvious to everyone that Seth was caught off guard. Seth stared down at his brother, mouth agape. “Emmie, trust me. You don’t want to be friends with _him_.”

“No!” Emmet stomped his foot. “You don’t get to call me that anymore!”

Seth glared at Emile, taking a step forward. Emile stumbled a bit as Remus pushed in front of him protectively. 

“Back off, Seth.” Remus kept his voice steady, but Emile saw his hands shaking and in that moment he knew that if Seth took a swing, Remus would retaliate without mercy. 

Emile briefly wondered where the teacher supervisor was when Seth menacingly took a jabbing step forward, before huffing and walking out with his friends in tow. 

_ Including Roman.  _

Remus turned to Emile and hugged him tightly. Emile returned the gesture, numbly watching Roman leave the lunchroom. 

Emmet was clinging onto Logan, mumbling ‘sorry’s’ to his friend as Logan awkwardly patted his back, casting desperate glances to Emile. He would have laughed at Logan’s expression if he didn’t feel his heart running a thousand miles per hour.

_No. Don’t worry about that,_ he scolded himself. Remus came first. Remus needed to smile before Emile could worry about himself. 

“You alright?” Tyler asked, concern evident in his voice. 

Emile swallowed thickly, unable to completely comprehend what just happened. 

“Wanna take this to the office?” Mason stood beside Tyler, head tilted slightly. 

Emile felt Remus shake his head and Logan shared the sentiment. Against his better judgment, he sighed. 

“No, we’re good.” 

The pair nodded, standing in front of Emile for a few seconds before telling him they’d be at the table to calm Remus down from his trembling. Emile couldn’t get the picture of Roman (_chivalrous, brave Roman. Roman who talked loudly without a filter. Roman who was Remus’ partner in crime. Roman who stood up to those soccer players to defend Logan at the beginning of summer.)_ walking away with that kid without a word. 

“Why?” Emile heard himself mumble. 

Remus slowly removed himself for their embrace, not meeting Emile’s gaze. “It’s okay. Ro does this a lot.”

_A lot. He did what a lot? Let his brother get hurt? Stand by as some kid told him what to do?_ Emile briefly wondered if Roman’s actions were a result of the various nannies they had over the years. 

The bell rang and Emile followed Remus to grab his stuff. He walked the younger boy to his classroom but stopped Remus from going in. 

“You tell me if something else happens, ‘kay?” 

Remus nodded. “Sure.” 

Emile let go of his shoulder and made his way to his own class. The scene of the lunchroom kept replaying in his mind which only added to the questions he had. Why was Seth so angry that his little brother made friends with Logan? Why didn’t Roman say anything? 

_ Why was Remus so scared? _

“Hey,” a soft voice spoke. 

Emile jumped, turning to see Mason with Tyler in tow and a few other friends. Mason held out Emile’s bag to him. “You forgot this in the lunchroom.”

Emile nodded, too tired and confused to respond. Tyler and Mason flanked each of his sides as they guided him to their class. The more he thought of what happened, the more guilt he felt towards how he was feeling. How could he be feeling so selfish with being semi-ignored by his friends when something was obviously going on between the twins?

_It didn’t matter though_, Emile thought firmly. He knew the next thing he had to do was talk to Dee. 


	15. On Your Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s nice to have Patton on your side.

It’s dark and dreary and has the smell of old people, _but it could be a lot worse_, Patton thought as he climbed the latter into the attic. 

_ There could be spiders.  _

There was a bit of dust over the light when he turned it on. He sneezed a few times, grateful to think of bringing wet wipes up with him to clean his hands. 

The attic was much more organized then he had expected. Boxes were neatly stacked and labeled on elegant script. There were a few odds and ends that didn’t fit into any of the boxes but everything was covered in dust, which made Patton wonder when the last time someone was up here. 

Rolling up his sleeves, Patton began dragging boxes to one side of the attic so that he could sweep. Thankfully nothing was overly heavy so he could clear the area. 

_What’s this?_ Patton thought to himself, as he lifted one of the higher boxes from a stack. 

Behind this particular stack appeared to be a half set up room with a couch, a fuzzy carpet, a small coffee table, and a box of toys. Curious, he moved the other boxes to get to the area, almost in awe at the mysteriously placed room. 

His fingers traced a pattern on the table, which coated his fingers in dust. On the table was a picture frame that had certainly seen better days. When Patton picked his up, a small gasp escaped him as a jagged bit of glass cut his finger. Ignoring the stinging pain, he dusted off the glass and looked through the cracked frame. 

It was three people. Two adults, one child. They were at the park on a bench with the toddler between what Patton assumed was the parents. The mother was cradling her pregnant stomach while the father was ruffling the hair of the young boy, who batted at his father’s hand playfully. The smiles were bright on all of their faces, and it was evident that the two people were in love. 

It was startling to recognize that the small boy grinning in the picture was the defensive Dee he had come to known. His finger trailed down the photo, heart clenching painfully at this version of Dee. 

He carefully placed the frame down on the table, suddenly feeling like he was intruding. He shuffled his way back to near the opening of the attic and continued moving boxes so he could sweep the floor as he had originally intended. 

Once the boxes were moved, Patton pressed ‘Shuffle’ on his phone while he grabbed the broom. The silence felt thick in the attic as he kept glancing over to where the lone couch sat by the window. He shook his head, refocusing on the task at hand. 

Once he swept the one side of the attic and had disposed of the dust downstairs, Patton couldn’t bring himself to clean the other side. He felt like he was violating a sacred place which he was never supposed to know about, so he retrieved his phone and pushed the ladder back into the ceiling. 

_Maybe another day I’ll come back,_ Patton thought, making his way to the kitchen to clean his hands. 

He was shocked to see it was nearly time to pick the kids up. A small bit of tension left his shoulders as he gathered his wallet and keys before heading to the garage. Oh, he hoped the kiddos had a great first day! He could wait to hear all about-

_ Ring! Ring! _

Patton froze in his steps, swivelling on his heel to make his way back to the kitchen where the house phone resided. 

The number for the high school appeared. Biting his lip, Patton quickly picked up the phone. 

“Hello? This is the O’Neill residence.”

“Hello. May I talk to Mrs. O’Neill or Mr. Patton Hart, one of theguardians of Mr. Remy O’Neill?”

_This couldn’t be good._ “Patton Hart speaking. Is everything all right? Is he okay? Is he hur-“

“We need his guardian to come down for a meeting with the principal.” The voice on the other side sounded bored, as if this was a regular occurrence. “We recognize your name has been recently added to the records for his guardian and we understand if you cannot make it like the others.”

“I’ll be there in five,” Patton promised, handing the phone up and practically bolted to the vehicle. 

His hands were calm as he shoved the key into the ignition and drove to the high school. His fingers determinedly gripped the steering wheel as a million scenarios ran through his mind. 

He parked the vehicle and tried to appear calm as he made his way through the front doors and to the office. 

“Hi, I’m Patton Hart. I was told to be here for Remy.” Patton told the secretary, who took one glance at him before opening a drawer and handing him a laminated piece of paper and a pin. 

“He’ll call you when he’s ready,” she motioned to the uncomfortable looking chairs and Patton reluctantly sat down. 

He turned the object he was handed to discover it was a visitor pass and he clipped it to his shirt. After fumbling with the pin for a few minutes, a rather timid looking man approached him. 

“Are you Patton Hart?” He asked, his voice surprisingly soft. 

“That’s me!” Patton practically shouted, jumping to his feet. “Is Remy okay? Was there a fight?”

“Follow me, Mr. Hart.” The principal responded instead of answering his questions. 

Patton dutifully followed the principal to his office, where Remy was slouched in a chair with his arms crossed. The principal took a seat behind his desk and Patton took one beside Remy. He tried to see if Remy had any bruises or was crying but Remy resolutely ignored him. 

“So, Mr. O’Neill.” Remy flinched as the principal folded his hands on his desk and leaned forward. “Do you wish to explain to Mr. Hart why I had to call him in?”

“Just give me detention, already,” Remy glared at the man, who clicked his tongue in response. 

“No, no, no, Mr. O’Neill. We do that far too often and it’s starting to give our school a bad reputation. You’ve caused far too many problems at our fine institution and we need to take more drastic measures.”  
  


Patton looked between the two, knowing that neither were going to break the silence.  


“Umm, excuse me, sir.” Patton awkwardly raised his hand, as if he were the one being chastised. “Could you please explain what’s going on?”

“Ah, yes. I supposed I should explain.” The principal took his gaze off of Remy. “This young man has consistently argued with several of his teachers since he began schooling here and since detentions do not seem to be lessening these interactions, we are wondering if his guardian has a suitable punishment.”

Patton hummed thoughtfully before looking at Remy and speaking. “What did the teacher say?”

Remy looked shocked at being addressed but the principal waved his hand dismissively. “That is unimportant, Mr. Hart.”

“What did the teacher say?” Patton asked again, just as gently as the first time. 

The sunglasses prevented Patton from seeing what Remy was thinking, but Remy must have decided to speak. “Mrs. Barrster is constantly misgendering people in my classes so I correct her. It may have gotten a bit heated this time.”

And if that didn’t hit close to Patton’s heart. 

“Crumbling up a detention slip and throwing it back at her is more than heated.” The principal stated evenly. 

Patton turned to the principal, a cold glare in his eyes. “So you’re telling me that Remy is in trouble for standing up for his friends?”

Patton saw Remy’s mouth open slightly before he clamped it shut. 

“He did not go through the proper procedure.” The principal argued. “There is a set protocol in the classroom that explicitly states that any student who has a problem with a teacher must see them after class.”

“But a student shouldn’t have to be misgendered throughout a whole class if it can be helped.”

“Rules must be enforced, Mr. Hart. Surely you understand-“

“With all due respect, Mr. Principal.” Patton straightened in his chair, ignoring the fact that he had no idea what this man’s name was. “You’re teaching students to stand by while another student is uncomfortable in a situation that could be rectified. Should we not be promoting compassion and solidarity to those who need it?”

“Well, I uh. You see, Mr. Hart. It is not so simple as who is right and wrong in the situation.” The principal began backtracking. 

“I respectfully disagree.” Patton stated. “The gender and identity of an individual should be respected. Are you homophobic and transphobic, Mr. Principal?” 

He swallowed harshly, glancing between Remy, who was entertained by the present events, and Patton, who never turned his gaze away.

“Of course not! We are an accepting school and promote diversity and tolerance.”

“If what you say is true, then teachers should be respecting their students pronouns.” 

The only sound that could be heard was the small fan pitifully blowing air in the corner of the office. Patton refused to break eye contact. 

The principal let out a long sigh. “That fact doesn’t erase Remy’s actions toward his teacher.”

“I agree.” Patton nodded before turning to Remy who tensed. “Violence is never the answer, kiddo. Will you please apologize Mrs. Barrster for throwing your detention slip at her?”

“Only if she stops misgendering her students,” Remy said carefully, keeping an eye on the principal. 

The principal opened his mouth to speak but Patton best him to it. “Awesome! So we can put this whole situation behind us.”

Patton could see the array of emotions on the principals face. It was obvious the principal was expecting a more harsh punishment at the end of this meeting. Patton knew he was short and the exact opposite of intimidating with his looks, but he felt satisfied to see the principal lost for words. 

“Don’t you think this is fair, Mr. Principal?” Patton couldn’t resist asking. 

The man in question schooled his features before nodding. “That shall be. . . Acceptable. As long as Remy refrains from violence in the future.”

“Of course, Mr. Atti.” Remy responded sincerely but Patton could see him trying not to smile. 

“You may leave.” Mr. Atti nodded to the pair, and Patton allowed Remy to exit before him. 

Remy kicked a rock all the way to the vehicle, obviously deep in thought. Patton respected his silent request for silence, taking his phone out to inform Dee he was at the school entrance. 

“You’re pretty cool, Mr. Hart.” Remy said finally, accompanied by a small grin. 

Patton’s heart melted. “Thanks, kiddo.”

“But I. . . I do have a question, if you don’t mind.” Remy said hesitantly, and Patton gave him his full attention before he continued. “Why were you on my side?”

Patton frowned. “You were in the right, Remy. And you’re one of my kiddos. Of course I’m going to be on your side.”

Remy seemed surprised by being referred to as _his_ kiddo. Remy eaned against the vehicle, looking away from Patton. “Why are you okay with the whole. . . Gender, thing?”

That would have been a tough question to answer if Remy had asked him prior to this meeting. There was always the what if of someone not understanding or refusing to understand. But Patton knew Remy would. Maybe even more than he thought.

Patton took a shaky breath, wiping his hands on his pants. _How should he say this?_ “Well, kiddo. I was actually born in the wrong body.”

Remy’s head snapped up, staring at Patton, but Patton didn’t take his gaze away. “Wait, what?”

“I’m uh- I’m transgender. He/him pronouns.” 

Remy was quiet, which made Patton’s heart skip a beat. However, Remy nodded to himself before taking off his sunglasses and looking Patton in the eyes. “Thank you for telling me, Mr. Hart. It means a lot.”

Patton swallowed the lump that was starting to form, nodding in return. 

A ding from Remy’s phone broke the peaceful atmosphere between the two. Remy rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

“What’s wrong?” Patton asked, feeling his head tilt slightly to the left. 

“Dee left with Virgil to pick the kids up.” Remy laughed. “Said they’d meet me at Marley’s once I got out of the office.”

“I thought I was going to drive you kiddos?” Patton was confused, pulling out his iPhone to see if Dee has responded to his earlier text, but understood when Remy winced slightly. 

“He probably thought you weren’t coming.” Remy admitted before grinning. “But this just means we can meet them there. And I get to ride in the front.”

Before Patton could respond, Remy jumped in the front seat and buckled up, leaving Patton staring at him. 

Remy rolled down the window. “Get in, loser. We’re going to Marley’s.”

Patton laughed fondly at the reference before sliding onto the drivers seat. 


	16. Logically Speaking, My Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan likes to take a logical approach to any situation. However, he may need assistance when it comes to friend-making.

Logan was not scared as Remus led him through the hallways to his classroom. _Absolutely_ no hint of fear.

He may have been apprehensive, <strike>but only maybe. </strike>

  
Logan was pleasantly surprised by how orderly the classroom was. He could clearly see that everything had a place. The toys were packed neatly in plastic bins and the the books were stacked alphabetically on the shelf. The teachers desk was tidy and the tables for where he assumed he and and his fellow classmates would sit were recently wiped down._ And was that his name cleanly labeled on a cubby?_

After putting his bag away properly, Logan tried to remember all of the information Virgil told him concerning to proper etiquette in the classroom. 

Step one was greet the teacher. 

“Sal-u-tations.” 

His teacher smiled at him and shook his outstretched hand. “Salutations. Are you Logan?”

Logan nodded and the teacher let go of his hand. “I see you’ve found your cubby and ready to start the day. If you want, you can find a spot on the rug to sit while we wait for your new friends to come in.”

Logan frowned slightly, wondering how he could possibly have new friends already without having met them yet. Nonetheless, Virgil had told Logan to listen to the teacher so he went to the carpet that had the letters of the alphabet embroidered on the outside and took a seat. There were a few other kids sitting silently, tugging at the loose strings of the carpet. Logan absently ran his fingers over the fabric. 

“Hey, hey, hey!”

Logan’s head snapped up to the person who had just entered the room. Their smile was wide as they haphazardly threw their bag into one of the cubbies and greeted the teacher. The child’s hair was a mess and Logan felt a ridiculously strong urge to stand up and go flatten it with his hands. 

_ Don’t sit beside me. Don’t sit beside me.  _

The strange child happily sat beside Logan, the grin never leaving his face. “Hiya! I’m Emmet and I’m five years old! My brother told me we get to paint in school! Isn’t that so cool! What’s your name?“

“Logan.” Logan mumbled, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the influx of information Emmet was granting him. 

“I really like your name!” Emmet appeared to be unable to stop moving, bouncing in his seated position beside Logan. “What are you ‘cited for today?”

Logan paused, waiting for Emmet to continue talking but was surprised Emmet genuinely appeared to want to know Logan’s answer. 

“Virgil informed me that there is a des-ig-nat-ed time slot for what he deemed ‘story time’.”

“Ooo! You have an older brother too?! That makes you even cooler!” Emmet seemed to be nodding more to himself than to Logan and Logan found himself nodding along with him. 

“Alright, children! It’s Circle Time!”

Logan straightened his spine as he place his attention to the teacher. She sat across from Logan in a big chair in the corner of the room while she waited for his classmates to settle down. 

Once everyone was seated, she clapped her hands together. “Good morning, children. My name is Mrs. Wild, and I’m so happy to be starting kindergarten with all of you today. I can tell we’re going to have a lot of fun this year.”

Logan listened as Mrs. Wild outlined their daily schedule on the board and where everything was in the classroom. 

“And since I bet a lot of you are strangers to each other, we should play a game to introduce ourselves. How does that sound?”

The children around Logan cheered and he winced at the outburst. Mrs. Wild picked something up off her desk and returned to sit on the mat. 

“Here’s how this game works. If you’re holding the red ball, you have to say your name, how old you are, and what you want to be when you’re older. Then you nicely pass the ball to the person on your left. I’ll go first. My name is Mrs. Wild. I’m twenty eight and I’m already what I want to be: a teacher!”

The ball was passed into the hands of a girl with pigtails and a pink skirt. She shyly tossed the ball between her hands. “My name is Kate. I’m five years old. I wanna be a ballerina.”

The ball was passed around the circle slowly. Most of the children were five years old while a few were four years old. Logan tried to pay attention to everyone’s answers because Dee told him it was important to listen to others so that they will listen to him. Logan was slightly confused when one boy answered that he wished to become a ‘fire truck’ when he became an adult but no one else seemed to think the ambition to be odd. Logan jumped slightly as the ball landed in his lap. 

“My name is Logan. I am five years old. I plan to become an astrophysicist.” At the silence and confused looks he received, Logan elaborated in terms his classmates would understand. “I want to study space.”

“Like an astronaut!” Emmet exclaimed and Logan shook his head. 

“No. They travel to space. I want to apply physics and chem-i-stry to explain the nature of the cel-es-tial beings of the cosmos.”

“Woah! You’re so smart, Logan!”

Logan felt his cheeks flush at the praise, and quickly deposited the ball in Emmet’s hands. 

“My name is Emmet! I’m five years old and I wanna make people happy!”

Emmet tossed the ball to the next child, and Logan continued to listen until they got to the end. 

“Good job, guys!” Mrs. Wild placed the ball back on her desk. “Now that we’ve gotten to know each other a little better, I think we should have buddies to make sure everyone has someone to help them out today. It’s your job to include your buddy in games and sit with them at lunch. You need to be the best friend you can be to your buddy.”

Logan nodded along, prepared to take this new role seriously. He hoped his ‘buddy’ would be inclined to do the same. 

“When I call out two names, I want you to find your buddy and sit with them on the carpet. First off, Logan and Emmet.”

Logan bristled, curling in on himself as Emmet cheered enthusiastically beside him. “We get to be best friends! We can paint together and share our snacks and-“

Logan stared at Emmet, knowing this could either be for the best or for the worst. The more he thought about it, the more he thought it could be for the best. Emmet was obviously informed about making friends and how to act while Logan was more academically enlightened. He was sure that pairing up was in the best interests of both parties.

“Ooo! Seth helped me make these bracelets to give to my bestest friend. I have a matching one, see?”

Emmet’s hand was shoved in his face and Logan reluctantly stared at the mismatched colouring of the bracelet. Logan remained where he sat, confused on what the appropriate response was. Emmet was apparently the impatient type as he went to grab Logan’s wrist but he pulled it away. 

“That will not be necessary.” Logan pushes his glasses up, resisting the urge to sit on his hands. 

Emmet’s eyes went wide. “But Logan! How will people know we’re the best buddies?”

Logan grimaced, looking between Emmet and the bracelet held tightly in his hand. “Would wearing the bracelet. . . make you happy?”

“More than anything!” Emmet grinned widely. 

Logan was given two choices. He could either refuse the bracelet, which would strain his ‘buddy’ relationship with Emmet and consequently ignore his teacher. Or he could accept the bracelet and prove he could be the best buddy in the class. 

It was no competition, really. 

“Okay.” Logan held his wrist out and Emmet squealed in delight. “We have to be the best, though.”

“For sure!” Emmet replied, dropping Logan’s wrist once the bracelet was on. 

Logan was surprised to find the bracelet didn’t make him want to rip his skin off. He trailed a finger over it, wondering what it was made of. 

“Now that we’re best friends we need nicknames,” Emmet informed him. 

Logan was not an expert on being best friends, so he agreed with Emmet. 

Emmet hummed thoughtfully before nodding his head. “You can call me Emmie and I can call you Lo-Lo.”

“You can call me Logan.” He informed him. 

“But best friends give each other nicknames all the time! My brother told me if you don’t have nicknames you’re not true friends.”

Logan frowned. Remy told him the same thing. _Was being called Lo-Lo the worst thing if he got to call Emmet his best friend? _

“Okay, Emmie. You can call me Lo-Lo if we get to choose where we eat lunch today.” 

“Only if we get to paint during free time.” Emmet countered and Logan smiled, already liking this development. 

* * *

_ We don’t want freaks like you hanging around. _

Logan involuntarily shivered, grateful that Emmie was gripping his hand so tight. 

He kept running the lunch events through his head, analyzing every action made during that time by every individual. Every time he got near the end, he hit a mental road block. 

_ Why did Emmet choose him? _

It made no sense. The pair had barely known each other for half a day and Emmet had chosen to disobey his brother to side with Logan. There was no logic in that decision, and Logan couldn’t help but stare at Emmet throughout story time rather than listen to the teachers voice. 

He was jolted back to reality when the teacher informed them it was free time and Emmet eagerly dragged him to the paints. Emmet grabbed a large sheet of paper and placed it on the table and urged Logan to sit beside him. 

“Aren’t ya gonna paint with me?” Emmet asked, noticing Logan had yet to pick up a paintbrush. 

Logan bit his lip, silent for a moment, before deciding on his words. “Why did you choose to stand by me rather than your brother? It makes no logical sense.”

Logan jumped when Emmet laughed. “I don’t need logic to know you’re my bestest friend, Lo-Lo.”

Logan swallowed thickly, before picking up a paintbrush. 

* * *

Dee was waiting outside his classroom when the bell rang. He looked tired and Logan assumes it was because he woke up earlier then usual. 

“Heya, Pocket Protector.” Dee smirked in his direction, nodding at Emmet. “Who’s your new friend?”

“This is Emmie. Emmie, this is my oldest brother, Dee.”

“Nice to meet you!” Emmet jumped up and down, waving his hand ecstatically. 

Dee chuckled. “Nice to meet you too. Did you two have fun today?”

“Lo-Lo and I painted today. He wanted to give it to you.”

“Lo-Lo?” Dee mouthed and Logan shrugged in response. 

“Well, let’s see this magnificent artwork.” Dee gently took the rolled up paper from his friend and unraveled it. 

“We’re in space.” Logan supplied as Dee looked over the painting. 

“I think Vee would like this a lot.” 

Emmet parted ways with the brothers as Dee led him out the front. Logan saw Virgil with the twins, who were resolutely ignoring one another. 

“What happened?” Dee asked, and Virgil helplessly shrugged in response. 

“Dunno. They won’t talk to each other or me.”

Dee frowned, about to saw something when Emile barrelled into his side. 

“Sorry I’m late!” He examined breathlessly. 

“All good,” Virgil smiled. “Ready to go?”

Emile was the only one to verbally respond, and Logan didn’t miss the nervous look Virgil sent towards the twins. 

“Where’s Mr. Hart?” Emile asked as they began walking past the parking lot. 

“He didn’t come.” Dee responded curtly. 

“Oh.”

The brothers walked in silence to Marley’s, fully aware of the tension between them. 

To be honest, Logan forgot that Mr. Hart had promised to pick them up after school but he wasn’t really shocked that he forgot. Mr. Hart seemed flustered this morning as he tried to get everyone ready for the day so it wasn’t improbable that he forgot. 

Dee held the door open for everyone and Virgil told Logan to pick a table so they could wait for Remy. Logan sat down and Remus immediately sat next to him, followed by Emile. Logan was slightly irritated as he wanted to sit next to Virgil, but he didn’t want to make his brothers feel bad so he kept quiet. 

Virgil day across from Logan then Dee slid in next to him. It took some prompting from the oldest O’Neill to get Roman to sit down and he still avoided eye contact with anyone. 

Dee’s phone buzzed and his eyes widened as he read the text. 

“Is Remy okay?” Emile asked, leaning towards the phone as if he would be able to see the answer for himself. 

“Patton picked him up. He was in the office again.” 

“Did Remy tell you what happened?” Virgil asked and Dee shook his head in the negative. 

“Dee. Can I talk to you?” Emile asked. 

The confusion on Dee’s face was reflected on both Virgil’s and Logan’s faces, but he nodded and followed Emile to go talk privately. 

Virgil waited until they left before turning to the twins. “Okay. What’s wrong with you two?”

Silence. Neither Roman nor Remus budged from their position. Virgil sighed before turning to Logan. “Do you know, Teach?”

Logan looked at the twins, who both shook their heads at him. Logan turned back to Virgil. “They don’t want me to tell you.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Should you tell me what happened?”

Logan looked at the table, thinking. He knew what was causing the animosity between the twins but he didn’t know if telling Virgil was a breech of their trust. One one hand, Virgil could probably get them to apologize and they’d be back to their usual selves. On the other hand, they might get angry at Logan and they might not apologize to each other after all. 

Before Logan could make a decision, the door opened to reveal Dee, Emile, Remy, and Mr. Hart. Dee looked troubled as did Emile, while Remy greeted the table as he usually would with his ‘flair’. 

“Afternoon, peasants. Let’s go get some ice cream.”


	17. Forgive Me Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton is faced with the worst thing imaginable: an argument.

“Isn’t that Dee and Emile?”

Patton turned the vehicle off before following Remy’s pointer finger. He saw Emile nervously fidget, his eyes firmly trained to the ground while Dee listened intensely. Remy kept out of the vehicle to see what was up, as Patton stumbled out of the vehicle and followed at a much slower pace. 

“I see.” Were the only words Patton heard before the trio turned to go inside. 

Patton hesitated at the door for a brief moment, wondering if he should join his kiddos or wait in the vehicle. The thought of them not having enough money to buy what they wanted forced him to follow the O’Neills. 

He was surprised with how cute the little shop was. Little fairy lights outlined the roof and the colours were all pastel. The booths all appeared to have been hand painted by a very artistic person who had an eye for detail. The booth his kiddos chose depicted a scene of a dragon and knight on one side and the other a castle and princess. The backgrounds were gorgeous and the padding for the seats looked extremely comfortable. 

“Hey, kiddos!” Patton greeted, not oblivious to the suffocating silence over the table. One glance told him the source was the twins, each sat on a different side and had their arms crossed. 

“Sup,” Virgil did a two-finger salute, and Logan fixed his glasses nervously. 

Remy clapped his hands together, grinning. “Afternoon, peasants. Let’s go get some ice cream.”

The twins reluctantly shuffled out of the booth, taking care to stand as far apart from each other as possible. Remus appeared glued to Logan’s side, who was trying to stand next to Virgil while Roman found himself by Dee. 

Virgil helped Logan and Remus order their scoops before getting his own. Emile followed, then Remy, and finally Dee pulled Roman to the display to get theirs. Once everyone had gone through, Patton tried to subtly flash his card at the cashier with the name tags “Marley”, who looked shocked for a moment before smiling and nodding. 

“Those boys deserve someone like you,” she winked before telling him his total.

Patton, thankfully, was able to pay and get his receipt before Dee was able to approach him. Just as he folded the paper into his wallet, Dee came up beside him. 

“I’ll pay you back,” Dee promised but Patton waved him off. 

“No need. You kids deserve a treat.”

Dee looked like he was going to say something but was beckoned by Remy’s loud voice. Dee clenched his jaw before heading to his brothers. Patton was going to head back to the vehicle and wait for the kiddos to finish before Remy spoke up. 

“Hey, Mr. Hart! Aren’t you gonna join us?”

Surprised, Patton hesitantly made his way to the booth. Logan scooted over to allow Remus and Emile to move over and Patton to sit. He briefly took a look at the kids before taking a seat. 

“So, Teach. You’re up first.”

Logan licked his spoon before carefully placing it in his bowl. “I greeted the teacher re-spect-fully like you said and sat on the carpet. Then this loud child tripped through the door and decided to sit next to me. He in-tro-duced himself as Emmet, but we’re class buddies so I have been allowed to call him Emmie. He gave me this bracelet.” Logan held up his wrist and his brothers all nodded and smiled. “We got to write some of the letters of the alphabet. Then we had lunch with Remus and. . .” Logan paused, looking at the twins who both shook their heads in his direction. “Then Mrs. Wild read us a story about space and then Emmie and I had free time so we painted. I gave it to Dee.”

Logan appeared to rush through his story, sinking slightly into his seat when he got to lunch. However, Dee seemed unconcerned and pulled out the painting to show his brothers. It was obviously two slightly better than average stick figures in space, and if Patton had guess by the limited details, he would assume they were Logan and his friend Emmet. 

Dee carefully rolled up the painting before speaking. “So who wants to go first? Roman or Remus?”

“I want to go home.” Roman pitifully whispered and Patton felt his heart skip a beat. 

“Well, we’re still telling each other about our days so you have to wait.” Dee told him. 

“I don’t feel so good.” Remus joined in, and Patton could tell with one look that he wasn’t lying, but he also wasn’t physically getting sick. 

Dee sighed in exasperation. “Well, no one’s taking you home until we talk about what happened between the two of you today.”

Both twins sunk into their seats, refusing to speak. Patton felt a flare of panic when he caught Remy’s eye and he received a wink in return. 

“I think Mr. Hart would be happy to talk to the two of you if you don’t want to talk to Dee.”

Patton almost laughed in relief. No way would the twins choose their nanny over their older brother. 

“Please!” The twins chorused to Dee and Patton wanted to slap himself. 

Dee took a calculated look between Remy and Dee. “_Trust me_, Dee.” Remy told him and that was enough for Dee’s eyes to soften. 

“Fine. Go with Mr. Hart and let him sort out the issue.”

Virgil looked incredulously at both Dee and Remy but didn’t say anything. The twins quickly got out of their seats and stood beside Patton. 

“Uh. Text me when you kiddos are done and I’ll come pick you up.” Patton told them. 

“Actually, we’ll walk home. It’s part of the tradition.” Dee responded and Patton could do nothing but nod. 

Patton led the twins to the vehicle. Both hesitated, staring at their usual seats beside each other. They eventually sat in Logan and Virgil’s usual seats as they were right behind the front seats but had a space between them. 

Patton checked the gas meter before blacking out of his parking spot. He carefully drove to the nearest gas station to fill up. When the ignition was turned off, he turned to look at the twins who had yet to speak a word. 

“I’m going to get gas. I want you kiddos to talk to each other before I get involved.”

There was no sign that they heard him, so he decided to fill the vehicle up quickly before a fight broke out. 

After filling and paying, he glanced into the windows to see a screaming match occurring. A small flicker of relief filled him when he saw that hands were not flying. 

He opened the door, flinching slightly as he could clearly hear their words. 

“You’re so stupid, Roman! You think just because people like you that you can do whatever you want!”

“At least people actually like me! What is it that they call you? Oh yeah, _Martian_! And do you remember why that is?”

“Shut up! You don’t get it!”

Patton slid into his seat, closed the door, and locked them before turning to the twins. “Okay, I meant to _talk calmly_ about the issue.”

The twins clamped their mouths shut, both obviously fuming at the other. 

“He’s the problem!” They both shouted and pointed at once. 

“Pointing fingers won’t get us anywhere.” Patton said calmly. “Do we want to have this conversation here or at home?”

“Home.” They both mumbled and Patton hummed in response. 

The drive was silent and Patton mentally prepared himself for the worst. He still had no clue what had happened at school to have the twins at each other’s throats. He had never seen the twins be seriously angry at one another to the point of separating themselves and having a full on screaming argument where both looked close to tears. 

He barely remembers leading the kids from the garage to the living room. He sat on the chair while they sat on opposite ends of the couch he was facing. Patton nervously clenched his hands between his thighs, taking a breath before speaking. 

“Okay. I know both of you are very angry at each other right now. But I need to be calmly told what happened to help you guys. Do either of you want to go first?”

There was silence before Remus spoke up. “I will.”

Patton nodded, beckoning him to continue. 

Remus described how during lunch Logan and Emmet came to sit with him, and they were later joined by Emile. It went downhill when Emmet wanted to introduce Logan to his older brother, which coincidently was a part of Roman’s friend group. Seth, his name was. He then began yelling at Logan and called him a freak. Emile and his friends rushed to defend the youngest O’Neill as did Remus. Even Emmet spoke up against his brother to stand by Logan. 

“But Roman did nothing. He left with him.” Remus spat, glaring at his twin. 

Patton nodded, he seemed to be doing that a lot. “Thank you, Remus. That was very calm. Roman? What’s your side?”

Roman has seemed to be wanting to disappear into the couch as Remus recounted the lunchroom scandal. He refused to meet anyone’s eyes as he spoke. 

“I was just eating lunch. Seth’s business is his own and you guys looked like you had it handled.”

“But that’s not the point.” Remus huffed, looking ready to cry again. “Yeah, we had Emile’s friends to kick his butt you turned your back on us, you’re _family_.”

“I did what I had to.” Roman responded weakly. 

“You don’t get it!” Remus tugged on some of his hair. “I don’t care what they say about me or what they do to me because _I_ can handle it. But Logan got a fresh start today and do you honestly think he can deal with that? We promised to be the best big brothers ever, but you’re just a jerk and a coward!”

Roman sat silently as tears flowed from both of the twins eyes. 

“Okay, Roman.” Patton felt it would be best to start with him. “Do you know why Remus is upset with you?”

A shaky nod was all he got in response. _He could work with this._

“Okay, good. Do you think you should’ve acted differently in this situation?”

“I-I coulda said something. Something for Logan.” Roman sniffed, wiping snot on the back of his hand. 

“What do you think you should do to make this better?” Patton asked. 

“Say ‘m sorry.” Roman mumbled. He turned to Remus and opened his mouth. 

“Don’t bother until you talk to Lo and Em.” Remus glared before looking to Patton. “Can I go to my room?”

Patton could see Roman’s heartbroken expression and sighed. “Yes, of course. I’ll call you down when dinner is ready.”

Remus wasted no time in running up the stairs and slamming the door. Roman remained on the couch looking miserable. 

“Hey, kiddo. Wanna help me make spaghetti and meatballs?” Patton offered his hand and Roman silently followed him. 

Roman pulled up at stool to sit on the counter and Patton didn’t have the heart to scold him more. “You know you’re brother doesn’t hate you.”

“Yes he does.” Roman argued quietly, kicking his legs back and forth. 

Patton let out a small laugh. “He’s just upset. He’ll forgive you. It’s what family does. When you make a mistake and apologize, they forgive you.”

Roman was silent before looking up. “Would you forgive me, Mr. Hart?”

“If you apologized to everyone you hurt, then absolutely.”

Roman nodded, giving a small smile in return. “Thanks, Mr. Hart.”


	18. Letting It Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dee does not trust Patton, and that probably won’t change, no matter the guilt or what Remy thinks.

Dee knew he was rushing. He knew it and he hated it. He _hated_ rushing, but he couldn’t stop prompting his brothers to finish their ice cream and their stories so he could go home. 

Remy said to trust him. Remy says ‘_trust_’ like it’s a promise and Dee knows that Remy would never put any of their siblings in danger knowingly. 

But that’s the thing. _Knowingly_. 

Most buildings in town are within walking distance of their house, and Dee eagerly takes the lead with Emile’s hand in one of his and Logan in the other. 

He can feel the tension taut in his shoulders as they approach the house, but he can’t let it show. He can’t risk his brothers seeing how worried he is. 

He barely refrains from throwing the front door off it’s hinges as he makes his way inside. He hurriedly chucks off his shoes as he listens for anything out of the ordinary. The only sounds he could hear was music coming from kitchen and Remy sighing beside him as he picks Dee’s shoes up off the ground. 

Dee walks purposefully to the kitchen, bracing to see the twins and Patton. However, he stops short when he sees Roman cheerfully dancing around the kitchen and singing as Patton is stirring something on the stove. 

“Where’s Remus?” Dee absolutely does not demand. 

He’s partly satisfied when Patton yelps at his voice. Roman spins towards him and engulfs him in a hug. 

“Dee! You’re home!”

Dee patted his head affectionately, subtly looking for any scratches or bruises or. . . anything. When nothing appeared, he felt his shoulders relax. He casts a questioning gaze to Roman and he slumps, motioning to the stairs to let him know where Remus was. Dee sighed slightly before looking up to talk to Patton. 

Somehow Remy had passed him and was speaking quietly with their nanny. 

“Everything Gucci?” Remy asked, leaning against the counter where Patton was back attending to dinner. 

“Well, Roman, kiddo.” Patton wiped his hands on the towel across his shoulder before turning to him. “Did you want to go talk to Emile and Logan privately?”

Roman sulkily nodded before leading two confused boys to the living room. Dee eyed him suspiciously but made no move to follow them. The bigger threat was in the kitchen, after all. 

“So, how was your ice cream?” Patton asked cheerfully. 

Dee was shocked at how instantly Remy began speaking, illustrating their afternoon with his usual flair. Dee knew Virgil’s open mouth was an accurate representation of how he felt himself. 

“I’m uh- gonna check on Ree,” Dee mumbled to Virgil, who mutely nodded back. 

Dee took his time up the stairs, silently counting every step as he always done. He hated being so tense in his own house, even though Patton had proved time and time again that he wasn’t violent or manipulative. 

_ But we thought that about. . . _

Dee shook his head as he reached he top, making his way to the twins room. Who knows what kind of condition the younger twin was in?

He knocked once, twice, then called through the door. “Hey, Ree? It’s Dee. Can I come in?”

He heard the shuffle of feet before the door clicked, revealing Remus looking smaller then ever. 

All it took was one look before Remus collapsed against Dee and held on for dear life. Dee cooed to his younger brother as he lifted him up. Remus wrapped his arms securely around his neck, making Dee nearly choke but he took small breaths as he carried him to the bed. He carefully laid down with the smaller boy as he sobbed into the crook of his neck. He ran his hand up and down his back, letting him cry it out. 

“Roman‘s so mad at me,” Remus whispered horrifically once his sobs subsided. 

“Wanna tell your big brother what happened?”

Remus nodded and sat up. Dee followed suit and listened carefully to his story. He made connections to what Emile told him and remained silent throughout Remus’ talking. 

Dee was. . . Well, he was something he couldn’t name. He felt anger in his stomach and fear tingling his skin. He scratched his arm, thinking. Remus rubbed his eyes, not meeting Dee’s gaze. 

“Roman’s not mad at you, Ree.” Dee promised, hugging the boy to his side. 

“I made him cry.” Remus argued, though he sounded weak. 

Dee chuckled. “Do you know how many times I’ve made Virge cry over the past ten years? At the very least fifty.”

Remus laughed and nodded, and Dee felt himself relax. They sat in silence, simply existing. Dee let his mind wander to Roman, wondering where he went wrong, what he should say to him, how he should approach the situation. 

“Let’s go downstairs,” Remus left Dee’s side and walked towards the door. Dee followed. 

Downstairs, Dee could faintly hear crying. Remus raced to the living room with Dee on his heels. He left them with Patton for a half an hour and _this is what he gets?_

However, the sight was not what he expected. Roman was sobbing into Emile’s embrace while Logan awkwardly patted his back, rocking on his heels and looking extremely uncomfortable. Remus locked eyes with Roman, who left Emile’s arms and stumbled to his twin. 

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sor-“ Roman blubbered, squeezing Remus with all of the strength of an eight year old. 

“You’re so dumb, Ro.” Remus chuckled, gripping him back just as tight. 

“_Don’t be mad at me anymore!_” They both chorused. 

Emile came to stand beside Dee and Logan left the room (probably to go find Virgil). Dee ushered Emile out of the room to leave the twins to make up privately. He was sure they would be okay now. 

In the kitchen, Patton was plating their food and Remy was taking it to the dining room. Virgil was pouring orange juice in various cups and handing them to Logan to take to the table. Emile was quick to offer his assistance, and he was tasked with setting up the utensils and napkins. 

“Hey, kiddo. Mind cutting up a vegetable?” Patton smiled up at Dee. 

Dee nodded and fulfilled the request. He skillfully sliced a cucumber and arranging them nicely on a plate. As the final slice was added to the plate, he felt a jolt when he realized he just listened to Patton unquestionably. 

“You okay, Dee?” Virgil knocked his hip with his own when he passed. 

Dee swallowed and nodded, the only movement he could force himself to commit. He followed Virgil to the dining room to see everyone already sat in their chairs. Once Dee took a seat, they began digging in. Dee stared at the plate, feeling anxiety crawl across his skin. _Why did he listen to Patton immediately? Why did he not question it and why did it feel so natural_? Dee didn’t understand. 

“Is something wrong, Dee?” Patton asked gently, laying down his utensils. 

Dee felt the weight of his brothers eyes on him. He could feel sweat prickling the back of his neck and he gripped his hands in his lap. _What the fuck was wrong with him?_

“You’re hiding something from us.” Dee glared at Patton, knowing it was true by Patton’s expression. _Huh, I didn’t actually think that._

Patton’s cheeks were flushed and he nervously glanced at all of the inquiring faces. Remy was the only one to glower at Dee. 

“He doesn’t have to tell us anything, Dee.” Remy replied curtly as Patton stuttered on his words. “He’s taken care of us better than _anyone else_ and he respects our boundaries and keeps us happy. He hasn’t hurt us and makes an effort to be there when we need him. He doesn’t have to share anything personal that makes him uncomfortable.”

“You have him in on this?” Dee demanded. 

Patton cast an unreadable look to Remy. “It’s okay, kiddo. I’m okay sharing this.”

Remy huffed, but backed down. Patton took a shaky breath and Dee knew he had him. He was done for. They’d never see his stupid smiling face again. 

“Do you know what transgender means?”

What?

“Ad-jec-tive.” Logan adjusts his glasses at the silence. “De-noting or relating to a person whose sense of per-son-al i-den-ti-ty and gender does not co-res-pond with their birth sex.”

Silence. Dee can feel the blood draining from his face. _He didn’t. . . He didn’t mean that! He didn’t mean to out Patton or. . . Fuck_.

“_English_, Microsoft Nerd,” Roman poked his younger brother in the side, who squirmed away. 

“Some people are born either a boy or a girl but feel they are the other.” Virgil explained quietly, eyes flickering between the table and Patton. 

Remus furrowed his brow before looking at Patton. “But you’re a boy, right?”

Patton smiled, relief evident in his eyes. “Yes, I’m a boy.”

“Well, that’s not a very good secret.” Remus looked accusingly at Dee. Dee wished he was anywhere else but here. 

“Is that all?” Remy narrowed his eyes at Dee, who could only nod stiffly in response. 

Everyone returned to eating, forgetting the conversation, it seemed. Dee pushed the food around his plate, trying to process this interaction, but only one thought was at the front of his mind. 

_ How did Remy already know this? _

He looked at his younger brother, who refused to make eye contact with him. Dee felt his heart constrict and it donned on him. _Of fucking course. _

He would need to speak with Remy privately. 


	19. Two Talks, One Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton has two separate talks with two different kiddos. One ends well, the other. . . Well, you’ll see.

Patton was cornered by Remy after supper, after the rest of the O’Neill children left to set up a movie. 

“_Hey_.”

Patton jumped as he dropped a plate back in the sink. Remy’s voice was small, unsure, the complete opposite of his usual self. 

“What’s up, kiddo?” Patton leaned his back on the counter uncomfortably, instantly regretting this decision but not in enough pain to situate himself in a better position. 

Remy’s arms were folded across his chest, appearing to try and shrink into himself. After a few beats of silence, he uttered “Can we talk. . . privately?”

“Of course,” Patton nodded his head. “Your room or mine?”

“Yours.” He answered immediately and turned so quickly he disappeared from the kitchen before Patton fully computed his answer. 

Patton drained the sink before heading towards the stairs. He peered into the living room to make sure everything was going okay. Logan was snuggled into Virgil’s side, evidently exhausted from today’s endeavours, while Virgil was talking quietly to Dee as his hand carded through Logan’s hair. Dee had a soft look in his eyes as he smiled at his brother, nodding every so often and interjecting a sassy retort or two. Emile was helping the twins pick an appropriate Disney movie as Roman and Remus seemed slightly wary of each other. Emile laid three movies in front of his brothers enthusiastically and the twins both pointed towards Lilo and Stitch. The identical shocked faces each wore was slightly humorous, and Patton chuckled silently to himself before going to meet Remy in his room. 

Patton had an idea of what Remy wanted to talk to him about. The talk in the principal’s office, him coming out privately to Remy in the parking lot, him coming out to his brothers. Heck, even the interaction between Emile and Remy at the mall during back to school shopping came to mind. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. 

Remy was running his fingers over Patton’s stuffed teddy bear when Patton entered the room. At the sound of his footsteps, Remy yanked his hand away from the object and held it in his lap. 

“Can. . . Can you shut the door. Please?”

Patton nodded, letting the door softly click behind him before taking a seat next to Remy. 

Remy licked his lips and laughed nervously. “So, uh, weather’s nice, right?”

Patton nodded. “It is pretty nice. I heard that the hottest day this week will be _Sun_-day.”

Remy groaned, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. He let out a breath before standing up in front of Patton. 

“So, Mr. Hart, the reason I called you to this fabulous meeting is to discuss some tea. _My tea_, specifically, I guess. But not, like, actual tea or anything.”

“It’s okay, Remy. Take your time.” Patton soothed. 

“Right.” He rubbed his arm with his left hand. “So, you are familiar with the, er, LGBTQ+ community, being trans.” Remy winced, obviously out of sorts. Patton tried to convey both a serious and supportive aura, but probably looked more like he was constipated. Remy quickly moved on. “It’s about my, uh, gender. And pronouns.”

Patton nodded encouragingly, both relieved that this isn’t about something worse and also touched that Remy trusted him with this information. 

“I’m nonbinary. They/Them pronouns.” Remy finished with a nod, as if to punctuate <strike>his</strike> their statement with confidence. 

“That’s good, kiddo!” Patton smiled. “I’m really glad you felt you could trust me with this. I feel more, as the kids say, _awake_!”

Remy quirked an eyebrow. “You mean ‘_woke_’?”

“Yes. _Woke_.” Patton stood, opening his arms slightly. “Can I give you a hug?”

For a split second, moisture entered Remy’s eyes. Then, they lunged towards Patton and wrapped their arms around him. They were shaking and Patton tried to put a comforting pressure into the hug. 

“You’re so brave,” Patton rubbed their back as the shaking continued. 

Remy chuckled wetly before pulling away. They wiped their eyes before looking seriously at the nanny. “Don’t tell my brothers. At least, not yet. Please.”

“Of course. This is yours to share, not mine.” 

Remy let out a breath of relief and Patton grinned. He grabbed Mr. Snuggles from his bed and handed him to Remy. Remy hesitantly grabbed him and held him to their chest. 

“This is Mr. Snuggles. He’ll protect you from the, uh, bad vibrations? Yes.” Patton nodded seriously and Remy laughed. 

“We need to update your slang, babe.”

Without another word, Remy walked out of the room. Patton waited a few seconds before following him out the door. 

Downstairs he found that Remy had joined their brothers on the couch, snuggled between Emile and Logan. The twins were laying on some bean bags in front of the couch, sharing a massive blanket as the previews played. 

“Popcorn anyone?” Patton called into the living room, reviewing various forms of confirmation. 

He waited as the bag of popcorn turned in the microwave, slightly hypnotized by its motions. 

“_Patton_.”

Patton let out a shriek, faintly computing that the voice belonged to the only kid who called him by his first name. 

“Oh, Dee, you scared me.”

Dee shifted to his left foot, arms crossed across his chest. Patton would’ve compared his demeanour to Remy’s if Dee showed any ounce of fear. 

“Let’s get one thing straight,” Dee’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t _trust_ you. I haven’t since day one, and I don’t plan on it. You can play the part of the nanny with my brothers, cart them around, offer them hugs, cook them food, but I can’t be bought. I won’t be bought.”

“Oh, kiddo, I’m not trying to buy any of you.” Patton faintly heard the microwave beep but ignored it. 

“I’m not naive. Everyone has a price. Logan. Virgil. _You_. But I don’t advertise it. You don’t belong here, even if Remy somehow thinks so.”

“Well, what’s my price, kiddo?” Patton asked, scared of his answer but also intrigued. 

Dee looked him up and down before responding. “You can be bought by those you deem need your help. The second someone needs something you can provide, you’ll give it. _Fortunately for you_, most people can be bought with your kindness. My brothers certainly can be.” 

Patton stares at Dee. His hands had become clenched at his side and Patton resists the urge to grab them in his own. Although Dee had a few inches on him, the kid seemed significantly smaller. 

“Can we sit, Dee?” Patton gestures to the dining table and Dee sits silently. 

After situating themselves across from one another, Patton starts talking. “I told you I took this job because I loved kids and wanted to make you guys happy.”

“That was a lie?” Dee probably wanted it to sound more demanding, but it came out as a question. 

“Of course not! You kiddos are amazing and the bond between all of you is so so strong. I admit, I was apprehensive when I first met you all because it seemed like I would never be accepted by you kids. But watching you and your brothers over the past few months have been really special. I’ve seen you guys grow and love each other and let someone like me take care of you. I don’t do this job for you and your siblings to like me, or for the money, or for validation, because it is what you deserve. I don’t want to buy you because I don’t want to. I want you guys to make decisions and be happy without me or my input because I know I’m the intruder in your lives. My job is to keep you happy and safe. I want you kids to trust me because I earned your trust, not because I bought you.

I _love_ watching Logan get excited when I take him to the library, and he gets to talk about every new fact he learned from the last book he read. I _love_ cooking with Roman and dining along to Disney in the kitchen off key. I _love_ talking about aliens with Remus and theorizing about what could be in space and what we would do if we met an alien. I _love_ watchingcartoons with Emile and discussing plot points and themes expressed in each episode. I _love_ listening to Remy gossip about everything and the smile on his face when I make coffee just how he likes it. I _love_ to talk conspiracy theories with Virgil when he wakes up in the middle of the night and we have a midnight snack in silence. 

I _love_ watching you with your brothers and the snarky comments you make that prove how much you love them.”

Patton took a breath, letting his words sink in. 

“You’re an incredibly smart and compassionate young man. So here’s my proposition. If you truly believe I am not capable of caring for your siblings and yourself, then tell me to leave and I’ll be gone in the morning.”


	20. HateHateHate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil is not someone you should look to support you in an argument. Ever.

Dee came stomping into the living room from the kitchen. Virgil looked up and shivered at the look in his eyes.

The title sequence illuminated the room, waiting to play for the little family but was currently showcasing Dee’s sour expression. 

Virgil pulled Logan a little tighter to him, who whined slightly as his eyes fluttered open. Virgil shushed him and the youngest O’Neill snuggled in his side contentedly. 

“What’s wrong, babe?” Remy asked, his legs sprawled across Emile’s lap on the couch. 

“Family meeting. Now.”

Dee left no room for arguments. The twins shifted their beanbags to face the oldest O’Neill without a word. Virgil didn’t miss the wary look they shared as they shuffled closer together under their shared blanket. Virgil softly shook Logan awake, who grumbled as he attempted to put his glasses on. There was a stare off between Remy and Dee, which ended when Remy reluctantly planted his feet on the ground to sit properly on the couch. 

Virgil was scared. When Dee usually called family meetings, they were not sudden and he did not look murderous. 

“Is Mr. Hart gonna watch Lilo and Stitch with us?” Remus spoke quietly, obviously sensing the tension and hoping to dispel it. One glance at Dee told Virgil that that was absolutely the wrong thing to say. 

“_No_!” Dee snapped and both of the twins flinched hard. Logan’s grip on Virgil’s sleeve tightened exponentially and Virgil resisted the urge to curl into a ball and cry. 

“_Hey_! Calm down and explain why we’re having a meeting.” Remy snapped back. 

Dee hissed, and Virgil would have laughed at the fact that he had obviously picked up a trait from him if he didn’t feel Logan trying to disappear into his side. 

Dee was scratching his arm, an ugly reminder of. . . <strike>her</strike>. He squeezed once before schooling his expression. 

“Patton offered to leave. It’s up to us whether he does or not.”

No one moved. No one spoke. No one breathed. Finally, Virgil grabbed the TV remote and turned the movie off. 

There was a sniff, and Virgil turned to the source in alarm. 

“Mr. Hart doesn’t want to stay anymore?” Emile choked out, tears on his cheeks. 

The brothers turned to Dee simultaneously. Virgil felt his breath catch in his throat. _Did I do something wrong? Did I drive Mr. Hart to quit? Did I annoy him with my late night ramblings? Did I-_

“He wants to stay. I just don’t think his presence in this household is what’s best for all of us.” Dee explained. 

“That’s _bullshit_!” Remy leaped to his feet. “He’s been nothing but perfect and considerate to all of us. What could you possibly have against him?”

“We don’t talk to each other like that,” Dee stated calmly, and Virgil could feel Remy’s anger rise. 

“Why can’t Mr. Hart stay if he wants to?” Roman asked, sitting up on his beanbag. 

“Yeah,” Remus also rose with his twin. “Mr. Hart makes the best food and talks about aliens and sings Disney songs.”

“And he takes us places and buys us ice cream when we go to the park and talks about our interests.” Emile interjected, rubbing the tears from his eyes. 

Dee stared at the twins. Then at Emile. Then at the twins. Then at Emile. He was obviously frustrated, not quite knowing how to get his point across. Virgil had no idea how to contribute to this conversation. His throat was tight and the small weight of Logan was the only thing keeping him from removing himself from the room. 

Logan shifted beside him, fixing his glasses nervously. “If we are vo-ting, I want Mr. Hart to stay.”

His voice was quieter than Virgil had ever heard, but it was the most straightforward sentence his younger brother had ever said. 

“Me too,” the twins chimed in. 

“I vote yes.” Remy raised his hand, and Emile copied his movements. 

Dee looked to Virgil and Virgil thought _shit_. 

He knew that Dee wanted to agree with him. If the two oldest teens banded together then the other siblings would be forced to agree because _the twins listened to their word as law if they both agreed and Emile would probably agree because majority rules and Remy didn’t shift form his views easily but he wouldn’t argue if majority of the brothers voted one way that opposed his own view and little Logan would argue if he knew he was in the right but the thing is_ is that Virgil doesn’t agree with Dee. 

Virgil doesn’t agree with Dee. 

“I hear your input. However, this final decision is going to be mine.” Dee looks away from Virgil, obviously noticing how useless he would be to contributing to his side. 

“That’s not fair!” Roman yelled, getting to his feet, knocking Remus over in his haste. 

“Get your head out of your ass,” Remy snarked. “Mr. Hart hasn’t done anything wrong and you are throwing away the only good thing that’s ever happened to us because you’re scared.”

Dee pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m not _scared_, Remy. I’m being practical. He’s not capable of caring for us as well as I can. He’s unnecessary.”

“He’s like Dad, though,” Remus trailed off and Dee sounded like he had been punched. Virgil certainly felt like it. 

“Logan. Roman. Remus. Emile. Go to your rooms. This is big kid talk now.”

“But De-“ Roman started. 

“Go to your rooms.” Dee repeated, though much more softly. 

Emile hesitated, before getting to his feet and herding his younger siblings to the stairs. The twins grumbled at Emile but he spoke a few words that Virgil couldn’t hear. The twins reluctantly left the room to go to the stairs. Emile then reached a hand to Logan, who looked to Virgil. He nodded and Logan also left. Emile glanced back once before following them. Virgil wished he was one of the younger kids at the moment because he felt so very small as Remy and Dee glared at one another. 

“_He’s not a replacement_.” Dee’s voice shook and Virgil noticed his knuckles were turning white at his sides. 

“No, he’s not,” Remy agreed. “But at least he’s something. Dad’s death was hard on all of us, and is it so wrong for our littler brothers to want a parent figure in their life?”

Virgil’s stomach was tied in knots at his words. The topic of parents was practically taboo in this household. It was agreed that neither Dad nor Mom wouldbe mentioned because if they weren’t there was nothing wrong. 

But Virgil also felt a pang in his heart, because Virgil wanted that too. He wanted a parent in the house that gave him hugs and cooked breakfast and made hot chocolate when he had a nightmare and ruffled his hair at random times and making sure he had enough money when he left and took him places because he asked and was there to just make sure he was safe and happy and _loved_. 

“We still have Mom, even if she isn’t here.” Dee retorted, though Virgil could tell he was scrambling for threads. “How would she feel if she came back and we replaced her?”

  
In Virgil’s eyes, that wasn’t really a question. How often was their mom even home? When was the last time she tucked them into bed or attended a family dinner or did anything beyond a phone call?

“Well,” Virgil bit his lip in hoping that his thoughts do not escape in a way that angers Dee further. “What if mom doesn’t come back this time?”

Dee stared blankly, somehow portraying a balance of betrayal and an urge to comfort him. Angry tears enter Dee’s eyes and he turns away from Virgil and Remy, rubbing frantically at his eyes. Virgil stood as Remy stood with his arms crossed, clenching his forearms rhythmically. 

He crossed the floor and gently turned his older brother towards him. Dee’s eyes were red and Virgil tugged him into a hug. Dee choked on a sob as he buried his face in Virgil’s shoulder. 

“He’s just like Dad,” Dee sobbed. “And it’s _utter bullshit_! It’s unfair because he’s not here and Logan never even got to meet him and the twins probably don’t even remember him that well. And Patton’s here and messing everything up because he’s so fucking perfect. I hate him! I hate him _IhatehimIhatehim_-!”

Virgil awkwardly led Dee to the couch and allowed them to collapse onto one another. Remy had made his way over and laid across them as well. 

Dee’s sobs gradually subsided as Remy softly spoke about everything and nothing and Virgil allowed himself to be squished. 

They laid on the couch for a while. Dee was in between the two and the two younger brothers were snuggled on either side. The room was dark and had a slight chill, but they were sharing the largest blanket they owned. Virgil was unsure if it had been minutes or hours before one of them spoke again. Surprisingly, it was him. 

“He’s not going to replace Dad. No one can. But Mr. Hart loves us and he’s good for us.”

Dee nodded slightly, and sighed. “He’s too much like him. I see him and hear him every damn time Patton opens his mouth or I see him. I just. . . I don’t know how to feel.”

“He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us.” Remy’s voice was solemn, and barely above a whisper. 

“You’re right.” Dee responded with equal softness. “_It’s just_-“

“Really hard. I know. I feel it too.” Virgil did. He felt a pang in his chest whenever Patton ruffled his hair and for a brief moment he would believe it was Dad and it hurt every time reality hit Virgil in the face. By the expression on Dee’s face, curing realized that Dee thought he was alone. 

“He can stay.” Dee whispered. “He has to stay. For _them_.”

Virgil felt Remy release a breath he wasn’t aware his sibling was holding. 

“That’s good.” Remy laughed after his statement, sounding slightly hysterical and Virgil felt his own laughter bubble in his chest. 

Soon the three were laughing. It was amazing how much tension left Virgil’s body in this moment. He wasn’t even aware his angst enough body could contain this much tension. 

“When’s the last time it was just the three of us snuggled on the couch?” Dee questioned, but it was obvious he wasn’t expecting an answer. 

They sat in comfortable silence for a few more minutes before Remy started wiggling. He grabbed his phone from the table and winced at the bright light. 

“I think it’s time we went to bed.” Remy yawned, sitting up to stretch. 

Virgil _absolutely did not_ whine when Dee moved to stand up.Dee chuckled and brushed his fringe from his forehead. “Trust me, you don’t want to sleep on the couch. It will ruin your back.”

Virgil huffed but stood up. He allowed Dee to drag him up the stairs. However, he ran into his back when Remy stopped on the stairs. Peering around his brothers, he saw Emile sleeping against the wall with the twins on either side and Logan laying in his lap. Emile’s arms were looped over each twins shoulders and Roman had a hand firmly grasping Emile’s pant leg. There was drool soaked into Emile’s nightshirt from Remus and Logan’s glasses were lying in the middle of the hall. 

“I got Lo,” Remy whispered, leaning down and picking up the small child. 

“I’ll take Ree if you take Ro,” Dee offered and Virgil complied. 

Virgil gently laid Roman in his bed and tucked his dragon stuffy beside him. He left the boy with a kiss on his forehead and he watched Dee do the same. When they both re-entered the hall, Emile was slowly blinking awake. 

“Is. . . Is Mr. Hart gonna stay?” Emile yawned.  


“Yeah, Sunshine. He’s staying.” Dee assured and Emile smiled sleepily in return. 


	21. This Is It/This Is Fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it. Patton knew the answer and he was fine with it. Absolutely a-okay.

Patton was sat at the table, silently watching the kids eat. 

No one spoke to him when they passed, and the tightness in his chest prevented him from uttering a single syllable. 

Usually mornings were filled with Emile’s excited chatter of cartoons with the occasional comment from Remy. Logan and Virgil would usually be debating something, using their utensils in deliberate motions to emphasize their points. The twins would always be talking about something to someone, or at least humming suspiciously as they attempted to steal food from their siblings plates. 

But the only sound came from forks scraping against plates. 

_So this is it_, Patton thought to himself. 

He shouldn’t be surprised. Dee was very protective over his siblings and it made sense he would never trust Patton to care for them, even if he had tried his hardest to make them happy. He’d miss these kiddos a whole lot. 

He’d miss making them breakfast in the morning and packing lunches with their favourite foods. He’d miss the little notes he included in their lunch kits and their trips to the park. He’d miss family game night where he physically hurt from smiling and laughing too much and he’d miss watching movies with the lights off as Remy narrated some of the parts while the twins acted them out. 

_ Don’t cry. Don’t cry. You are not allowed to cry, Hart!  _

Patton clenched his fists in his lap, trying to keep his face neutral to not betray his feelings. He didn’t want the kiddos to be upset before he had to take them to school. 

He’d have to drive them, of course. It was only logical. Dee hasn’t arrived for breakfast yet but as soon as he did Patton knew he would usher his younger siblings to the van and would tell Patton to drop them off at school. Then he would tell him to pack his things and leave before school ended because he would no longer be needed. <strike>Nor wanted. </strike>

_ Odd. Why was his vision blurry? _

“Mr. Hart? Are you - Are you okay?”

Remy’s voice sounded hesitant and. . . scared. Why were they scared? Everything was _fine_. They’d go to school and Dee would be able to watch them and care for them just like Dee wants.

“You’re crying.” A hand is on his shoulder and Patton raises his own hand to touch his cheek. _Weird. It’s wet. _

Patton blinked twice, forcing a smile on his face. “I’m your happy pappy Patton! Everything’s a-okay! Shouldn’t you kids be ready for school? I’ll start the car!”

Patton stood quickly, feeling lightheaded as he made his way to the garage. He barely remembers starting the vehicle and driving it to the front of the house. 

He unclenches his hands from the steering wheel and took two deep breaths. He’s fine. He’s fine. _He’s fine. He’s finefinefinefinefine. _

He’s fine. 

_The kids_ will be fine. 

He looks at the rear view mirrors and smiles until it’s natural. The kids clamber into the vehicle without a word and Patton drives off. 

The silence is suffocating but Patton can’t bring himself to do anything about it. He can tell someone wants to say something, anything, but no one seems to have the energy to. 

Which is _fine_, because if that’s how the kids want to say goodbye he will let it happen. 

“Bye bye, kiddos!! Have fun today!!” His voice is awfully fake and pitched high, but hopefully they can’t hear it. 

The twins wave back enthusiastically and Logan gives him a nod, which is one of the more extreme forms of communication that Logan is capable of. Emile lingers slightly in the vehicle before leaving. 

When he gets to the other school, he can physically feel his heart breaking. _This is it. _

He watches Remy and Virgil exit the vehicle wordlessly. They don’t look back once they make their way to the entrance. 

Dee is the last one to remain. 

Patton chuckled hollowly. “Well. I guess this is it, huh, kiddo?”

Dee stiffens, looking curiously at Patton as if he was a particularly difficult math equation to solve. 

“What _on Earth_ are you talking about?”

Patton feels his shoulders relax, letting a tiny smile slip onto his face. _He’s fine._ “It’s okay. I know this is the last time we’ll see each other. I’ll pack my things and leave after I drop you off so you don’t have to worry about seeing me again. It’ll be like I wasn’t even there and. . . I’m just grateful I got to be with you kiddos as long as I did.”

Dee fiddles with the cuffs of his shirt, his lips pouting subconsciously. “You’re not going anywhere. Not until _I_ say you can.”

_ What? _

Dee looks at his face and laughs. It the first time Patton has heard a genuine laugh come from the boy and his heart soars at hearing it. 

“We don’t want you to leave, Patton.” Dee pauses for a second before making direct eye contact. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“Oh.” Patton responded smartly. His brain had officially turned off. It had booked a ticket and had taken off for vacation, using all of its days off and did not provide the boss with a return date. 

“Virgil wants your lasagna for supper tonight, if you’re up for it. And Emile’s been craving those double chocolate chip cookies you made a couple weeks ago.” Dee smoothly slides out of the passenger seat before giving a small bow. “We’ll expect our chariot 3:25, on the dot.”

The door shut firmly behind him and Dee sauntered to the front entrance. Patton sat there, dazed, until someone behind him honks there horn, startling him into accidentally honking his own. Terrified of someone leaving their vehicle to fight his tiny body, as he is defiantly in no shape or form a fighter nor had the ability to hold in tears when someone yelled at him, he expertly navigated his way from the school back home, and if he were to make a few extra turns to throw off any angry PTA moms following him, no one had to know. 

* * *

Patton was staring at the boxes, silently wondering if he should open them. They sat there, innocently, not giving a hint of whether or not he should. 

In the end, he decided to look inside them to organize them. There was no need to sift through every single box, he rationalized. Just to see what each one contained so he could group them together accordingly. 

Eventually half of the boxes had been sorted. One stack held Halloween costumes of past years. Another had old clothes folded neatly, obviously belonging to their father, and Patton was quick to leave them as he found them. He made a third stack of boxes that contained old toys, and a fourth that was filled with the kids old clothes. The boxes that housed old antiques (_old, breakable antiques_) were left were he found them. 

The small living space was just as he remembered: dusty and lacking, well, _life_. The picture was where he had left it yesterday, laying on the table, abandoned. 

_It was funny_, he supposed, that yesterday he was scared to be up here. Like he was intruding in their home. 

But as he cleaned the kitchen from breakfast and vacuumed the living room downstairs, his mind couldn’t help circling back to that little area in the attic. _How perfect it was. _

He could see Virgil and Logan sharing a book on one end of the couch, cuddling under a blanket as Logan held the book and Virgil carded his fingers through the younger’s hair. He could picture. Remy would obviously sit on the other end, their feet laying on Dee’s lap with a coffee in hand. They would be talking about the latest gossip about whatever celebrity was popular at the moment, and Dee would sarcastically input his own opinions on social structures and such. The twins would play with the numerous toys they had, maybe playing dress up and having a tea party with Emile, who would probably be colouring in his Steven Universe book with only half his energy spent on paying attention to the twins.

It would be a safe space for them. Somewhere they could hang out after a long day and just unwind. A place Patton promised himself he would _never_ enter again without their permission once it was finished. 

He remembers the offhand comments of hiding in their rooms they made over the course of his stay when they thought he wasn’t around. The little reminders they made to each other that their doors had locks and to use them. The suggestions of heading to the park or the library or anywhere out of the house and _no, Mr. Hart, there’s no need for you to come. _

Just because Dee decided the best course of action was for Patton to remain caring for them doesn’t mean they all still trust him. He sees signs of abuse and neglect in these kiddos with their everyday actions and he will not be someone else that adds to their distrust in adults and the world. He does not expect them to ever completely trust him <strike>no matter how much that might hurt</strike>. 

His kiddos come first, after all. And he would be _damned_ before he hurts them in any way. 


	22. Remy’s Reputation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy has a certain reputation in town. Not that anyone complains about it, or anything.

Remy had a reputation to uphold. And they did so flawlessly, if you asked them. 

Remy was the school’s signature insomniac. Remy was the person who took no bullshit. Remy was the one who made school bearable for a number of students over the years. Remy knew everyone, knew every secret, but nobody really knew Remy. 

And they were okay with that. There was no need for anyone to get up in their grill about personal business. Remy didn’t need nor want any personal relations with their fellow suffering classmates because they were perfectly vibing on their own. There was no need for them to intervibe, so to speak. 

“Remy, dude, you coming to the opening game next week?” Two football players flanked each side. 

Remy found these situations humorous. Any other time, a younger student would only ever be approached by seniors to be harassed for lunch money or amusement. Or said student had an older sibling the seniors wanted to get with. 

Remy, on the other hand, had personally made connections with every clique in the school. They were the reason for the high turnout of fans for the football team (_and various other sport teams in the school_). They were the reason the art club and band program were still up and running because they convinced the school board to fund it instead of cut it. They were the reason the Spring Musical wasn’t cancelled last year because they got everyone they knew to purchase tickets. They were the reason a Gay/Straight alliance club was in existence and thriving (_even though some the teachers evidently did not approve of it much_). 

So yeah, Remy knew they weren’t in any danger. 

Remy laughed, taking a sip of their coffee and lifting their sunglasses to their forehead. “Do you honestly think I’d miss such a big event? _No ma’am_! I’ll be on those rock-hard bleachers and cheering like the girl Taylor Swift hated, babes.” They punctuated their words with a wink and both of the football players laughed deeply. 

They grinned and each patted Remy on the back before rushing through the hall to some of their teammates. Remy let their features fall back into their lazy grin, flicking their sunglasses back down and heading to their first class. Remy would be lying if they said they remembered the names of those football players. The only reason they knew who they were was because they sported the signature letterman jackets of the team _(which was absolute cringe and cliche, if you asked Remy about it)_. 

If this were a big city where there could be a thousand students in a year, let alone however many in the school, it might have been weird for a sole student to have so many connections throughout the grades. But Remy had been doing this gig since they were five years old, making snack deals at the lunch table that would have made their mother proud. (_It was still a mystery how little Remy managed to exchange a granola bar for a chocolate pudding cup from the principals daughter, and then trade that pudding cup for another kids’ lunchable_). Either way, Remy knew a lot of people owed them favours, and the rest thought they were a good person (_which, debatable, but it depended on the kind of day they were having_). 

Anywho, they reached their first class with only a few minor stops along the way. They were able to slip into their seat before the bell rang and two sharp rings punctuated the air. 

“Hey all you _Golden Royals_!! It’s Ethan Thompson here, with your morning announcements.”

* * *

A large slam echoed down the hallway, and Remy sighed in exasperation. 

Usually no one was dim enough to even think about doing what they were doing, but there were rumours of a new family in town so Remy supposed it couldn’t be avoided. They took a deep breath, resisting the urge to slam their head into their locker to replicate the sound before taking a large gulp of coffee. 

The school fell silent and Remy could feel their eyes glaring into their soul as they slowly made their way to the source. The day had been silent, like most days usually were. They could just imagine the mess they were going to be dealing with. 

“Watch where you’re going, _freak_!”

The “_freak_” in question was in Remy’s Biology class. His name was Matt, he sat three seats forward and one to the left from Remy. He was an active member in the school’s marching band and had an older sister in Junior year. Remy took a quick look at the perpetrator before humming to them self, catching the attention of a guy Remy hadn’t seen before today. 

“You gotta problem?” Oh, Remy did not like that tone, _no sir_. 

Remy laughed a little, taking another sip of their drink. “Oh, quite a bit, actually. You see, most _normal_ human beings don’t go raging around like a gorilla missing prom night, hun.”

“What’d you say to me, _kid_?”

Ah, yes. The ever insulting use of the word ‘_kid_’. Sure, this guy was either a Junior or Senior based on looks alone, but his attitude was that of a five year old brat. 

“I’m sure your hearing hasn’t gone that far, ‘_old man_’.” Okay, definitely not some of their best work, but they couldn’t stop now. Remy lifted their glasses, staring straight into his eyes. “Anywho,_ I make it my business_ when someone’s being an asshole for no reason. I’d suggest apologizing to Matt here before things get, hmmm, little out of hand.”

The boy looked at him for a second, scrunching his nose as if he smelled something funny, before barking out a laugh. “And what are you gonna do about it, huh? You’re just a gangster wannabe with your stupid fucking jacket and asshole sunglasses.”

Remy chuckled, seeing members of the Swim Team, Basketball Team, and Soccer Team coming around to offer their support. The two football players from earlier had flanked Remy once more, crossing their arms in what appeared to be an intimidating fashion. If Remy didn’t know better, they’d probably have shrunken down to avoid being noticed by the brute looking teenagers. 

Remy took off their sunglasses and handed them to the guy on their right. They ran a hand through their hair and shook it as they listened to the silence. 

_ Hope you can forgive me.  _

Remy took a step forward, hand towards Matt, who eagerly took it and stepped away from the lockers. The new kid went to grab for Matt and Remy was having none of that shit. They pulled Matt behind them and glared at this kid who’d obviously never heard the word “respect” in his life. 

“I’m giving you _one chance_ to apologize to Matt before you find yourself in a regrettable position.”

The kid sneered, not registering the threat Remy posed as they had several people on their side. 

“Whatever, you can’t do anything to m-“

“Plausible deniability.”

At those words, there was a flicker of confusion in the bully’s eyes before an audible crack echoed throughout the hall and he was on the floor. Remy felt a smirk crawl on their lips, noticing how the various sports kids had created a wall between onlookers and themselves, their backs turned to Remy and the kid currently on the floor howling. 

The words Remy spoke was a signal the kids in school knew all too well. It was like a deal. Remy would deal with any problem students were having with one another and everyone else protected them from the backlash of the faculty. It’s been this way for years, and everyone agreed that allowing Remy to step in to less than ideal situations usually resolved them much more quickly then getting a teacher or god forbid the principal involved. 

So yeah. Remy took care of everyone and everyone took care of Remy. 

Remy represses the urge to kick the boy on the floor. Anger wasn’t a good look on anybody and Remy had to remind them self of that. Guys like this were predictable. They could spout shit all they wanted but the outcome was still the same. Remy looked at their knuckle with disgust, seeing the blood dripping down their fingers. They hoped they didn’t get any on their jacket. 

“What the fuck, man?” The kid on the ground scrambled back, his back hitting the lockers. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Name’s Remy O’Neill, gurl. Things happen a little differently then what you’re used to. And if you take a look around, new kid, no one saw what just happened. You know what that means? No ones gonna believe anything you say.”

Remy wouldn’t be surprised if a little pee came out of the boy on the floor. Without a second thought, Remy led Matt to the bathrooms to clean themselves up. 

“Thanks,” was mumbled in their direction, but the sincerity was absolute. 

“No prob, babe.” Remy grinned. “I’d do it for anyone.”

After a few minutes of checking Matt over, he bid farewell and Remy allowed them self to clean their hand. The blood had started to dry but thankfully none had stained their jacket. They took care in cleaning it off, a little put off that some was still under their fingernails but they could get that off at home. 

Remy stopped the faucet and stared at them self in the mirror. They brushed the fair out of their eyes and just stared. There was an uncanny resemblance to their father in their eyes, and Remy wished he was here now to reassure them that they were right. Just to put a hand on their shoulder and say he was proud for standing up. In reality, they knew their dad didn’t condone violence, despite Remy witnessing the man punch a stranger who tried to grab Virgil at the mall one day without hesitation. That was difficult to explain to their mom but Remy had never admired a man more. 

In the end, it didn’t really matter. Remy was their own person, and was old enough to make decisions for them self, whether they brought good or bad consequences. They chuckled humourlessly before exiting the bathroom, imagining the horror on Virgil and Dee’s faces if they heard them say that. 

A few of the sports kids were waiting outside the bathroom, grunting in that language no one seemed to understand but others of their own kind. A few patted Remy on the shoulder before heading out and others gave that ‘bro nod’ before following. Remy was grateful for their support and happily accepted their sunglasses back before departing. 

Looking at the time on their phone, they saw several missed messages from Dee and Virgil, asking where they were and _what was taking so long_ and _are you okay?_ Remy started typing out a message before shaking their head and typing a new one. 

_ Be out 4 a while dont wait up _

They turned their phone on silent before walking out the back doors of the school, trying to control the shaking in their hands. 

* * *

Harsh breaths escaped their lips as they held their hands to their chest. Several cuts littered their fists and Remy bit their lip, feeling grateful the shaking was gone. 

The tree was always a big help at times when Remy felt overwhelmed. Remy prided themself on being able to handle any situation with a level head, and somewhere along the way had forced their emotions to take a backseat when dealing with these events. Unfortunately, those emotions had to come out somehow. 

_At least it wasn’t a person_, Remy supposed. 

The tree in front of them had little flecks of blood staining it, and Remy grimaced at the sight. Their hands were in no better shape, having blood and dirt and tree bark stuck to them. They forced their gaze towards their bag and made sure everything was packed before heading home. They quickly shot a text to Dee that they were coming home, but paused after sending it. 

_ Hope everything is a okay, kiddo!! We’re having lasagna for supper and those super duper double chocolate cookies for dessert :D Text me if you need to be picked up!! _

Mr. Hart. Of course. A pang of guilt shot through their chest as they left the message on read and trudged on home. 

They were only ten minutes away from home, but Remy knew something was wrong. Sure, it wasn’t unusual for other people to be out and about, but Remy wasn’t stupid and they knew for a fact that the person behind them was the kid they had (_rightfully_) punched in the face. 

Remy knew that if it came down to it they could take them. Remy wasn’t all words and they had years of experience with bullies and the like. But they did promise Mr. Hart (_although not to his face_) that they would try and be better. Remy decided to take the scenic route, pulling out their phone and asking Mr. Hart to pick them up. Better safe then sorry, and all that jazz. 

Pocketing their phone, they were surprised to see the football team running towards them, until they remembered they usually did a long run through town once a week. The captain took one look at Remy, then the guy following them, and slowed down. The team followed suit, confusion flickering over their faces before catching the eye of the guy following Remy.

“This gonna be a problem, _bro_?” Was said in a tone that suggested that the guy was very much _not_ their ‘bro’. The captain rested a heavy hand on Remy’s shoulder, but was looking at the guy behind them. 

“This doesn’t concern you idiots.” Was his brilliant response, but Remy could see him calculating his next move. It was obvious he wasn’t eager for a repeat from a couple hours ago. 

“Remy’s our boy!” Another firm hand smacked Remy’s other shoulder and Remy resisted the urge to yelp. “He takes care of us, we take care of ‘im.”

Agreement rang throughout the crowd as more members began creating a shield around Remy. Not that this wasn’t appreciated, but Remy could handle them self. 

Remy took another look at the guy from earlier and then mentally thanked the team for being there. 

“Whatever. Like some _fairy_ is worth my time.” The guy in question shrugged his shoulders and went back the way he came. 

Remy let out a breath they weren’t aware they were even holding. Once he was out of sight, the captain turned to Remy. “We got your back. He says anything to you and we’ll take care of it.”

Before Remy could respond, a familiar vehicle rolled up beside the group. 

The window rolled down to reveal a cheerful Patton Hart. “Hiya, kiddo!! Oh! Are these your friends? Do they need a ride somewhere? I don’t have a lot of room, but I’m sure I could make a few trips and-“

“It’s Gucci, Mr. Hart.” Remy smiled and felt their shoulders relax. They turned to the team and gave a two finger salute. “Thanks, boys. Train hard for the game.”

Remy buckled them self into the passenger seat and Mr. Hart drove off, gleefully waving to the Football Team as they went. The football players eagerly waved back like a hoard of puppies, and Remy smirked when they were finally out of sight. 

“How was your day, kiddo?” Mr. Hart asked. 

Remy shrugged. “Same old thing. Learn some things. Eat some food. Chat up your friend.” _Punch some ignorant douche in the face._ “The works.”

Mr. Hart nodded happily. “I’m really glad you had a great day! What’d you do after school?”

Remy felt their heart skip a beat and was grateful Mr. Hart wasn’t looking at him. “Oh, you know. Stuff and things.”

That didn’t sound suspicious at all. 

He laughed at the answer, his nose scrunching up as he turned into their yard. “Yes. I’m sure all of the hip kids do ‘_stuff and things_’. As long as you’re safe and having fun.”

Remy may or may not have stuck their hands in their jacket pockets and nodded. 

Mr. Hart turned off the ignition and sighed, halting Remy from leaving the vehicle. 

“Something wrong, babe?” Remy asked. 

Mr. Hart smiled, though it was strained. “I actually have a favour to ask, if you don’t mind?” At Remy’s nod, he continued. “I think Emile had a pretty rough day today and he isn’t talking to anyone about it. I know you two are pretty close so could you check on him?”

“Course I will.” Remy grinned though their heart was pounding. Emile was the happy one of the family; always smiling and laughing and talking about cartoons. Remy knew Emile wasn’t very good at expressing their negative feelings (_but really, were any of the O’Neills?_) but they were still concerned. Emile was one of the better ones about voicing their concerns to one of the older siblings if he had an issue so why didn’t he do it with Virgil or Dee?

_ Unless even they didn’t realize how he was feeling.  _

Remy felt their stomach churn as they got out of the vehicle and followed Mr. Hart inside. 

_After supper_, they decided. _They’ll talk then. _

* * *

The chatter from a certain platypus was the only sound in the room. 

Remy checked for what seemed like the billionth time that Emile’s door was closed and only the two of them were inside. Remy returned their attention to their younger brother, who was grinning at the screen and slightly swaying beside them. 

“So, Sunshine, how was school today?” 

Remy didn’t miss how Emile froze before forcing a smile that was much more strained then before. “It was okay. We did a writing exercise where we wrote about what we did over the summer, and we reviewed multiplying and dividing single digits.”

Remy hummed, thinking about their next words. “Did anything _bad_ happen today?”

Emile bit his lip, turning his head towards the television and stayed silent for a moment. “Nothing. . . _bad_.” He finally said. 

“Did something upset you? With your friends?” Remy guessed and Emile hesitantly nodded, though still did not turn to look at Remy. Remy frowned when Emile did not elaborate. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m handling it. There’s no need to-“ With one look, Emile sighed and smiled shakily. “It’s a little silly. I mean, I _shouldn’t_ be feeling this way but it’s okay that I am. I just need to deal with it.”

“Deal with what?” Remy pressed and Emile crumbled. 

“Well, it’s just. . . I don’t feel very. . . _important_, I guess. To my friends. Because it seems I do a lot of things for them: help them study, talk about their issues, and stuff, but no one does the same for me. It’s like, like if I wasn’t there, they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Which makes me, a little sad, _I think_? But that’s my problem, and like I said, I’m handling it!”

Remy pulled Emile into a side hug and allowed Emile the chance to breathe. A whirlwind of emotions ran through Remy and a familiar shaking filled them once more. They pushed it down and brushed Emile’s hair out of his eyes. “You’re important to your friends, I promise. You should talk to them. They probably don’t know you’re feeling like this or don’t know that you want them to treat you how you’ve been treating them. They are only ten, after all.”

Emile sighed, pushing closer to Remy. They sat there for a while, letting the credits of the episode end. Emile still felt. . . _off_, to Remy, and they didn’t really know what to say to make him feel better. They knew Emile was more than capable of handling his own issues but they wished they could do more than simply tell him he should talk to his friends. 

They watched another episode together in silence. Emile was no longer bouncing around on his bed but he seemed more relaxed then he was earlier. Remy smiled and pulled the blanket they were sharing up to their chin. Emile was a good kid. He’d have this handled. 


	23. A Little Chat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton notices something is off with Remy. And Patton wouldn’t be Patton if he didn’t interfere.

It was the first weekend since school started, and Patton was humming to a song he overheard Virgil playing in his room yesterday. The lyrics were a little dark for his taste, but Patton could admit it had a groovy beat. 

“Mornin’, Mr. Hart,” a yawn punctuated the air and Patton turned to see Emile sleepy rub his eyes in the doorway. 

“Good morning, kiddo!” Patton chirped, flipping the omelet in his pan. “Breakfast will be ready in a minute if you want to get some plates?”

Emile nodded and walked over to the cupboards. Patton returned to humming, watching the pan so not to burn the food. 

When he finished plating the food and carried it to the dining room, he discovered that half of the O’Neill household were awake. Virgil was cradling his coffee and slouched in his chair, blearily listening to Logan rant about some philosopher who talked about big words such as “empiricism”, “scepticism”, and “naturalism”. Emile was eagerly listening, inputting his own ideas of themes that related to the topic. 

Virgil nodded in thanks, pulling his plate towards him and stuffing his mouth full with an omelette. He made a sound of satisfaction, closing his eyes briefly as he exhaled. “You’ve done it again, Mr. Hart.”

Patton laughed, settling into his own chair. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“David Hume once said that ‘causes and eff-ects are dis-cov-erable not by reason, but by ex-per-i-ence’.” Logan gave a pointed look to Emile, who nodded thoughtfully and the two began eating, presumably ending the conversation. 

Remy emerged a few minutes later, looking grateful to Patton when he handed the kid a cup of coffee. As they moved to grab the mug, Patton caught red lines on their fists. Remy caught his eye and flinched, pulling their hands back swiftly and sitting down. 

_Talk later?_ Remy mouthed and Patton reluctantly nods his assent. 

“Mr. Hart? Can we go to the park today?” Emile asked through a mouth full of food, which Logan immediately began lecturing about how he could choke if he wasn’t careful. 

“Sure thing, kiddo!! Just you or are we making it a family affair?” Patton looked to Virgil and Remy for their answers. 

“I’m game, babe.” Remy smiled. 

“Sounds good. I have an art project that needs to follow ‘Life Imitates Art’.” Virgil turned to the youngest O’Neill. “What about it, Lo?”

Logan nodded, fixing his glasses. “Sounds sat-is-fact-ory.”

“Okie dokie!! When everyone’s eaten and ready to go, we’ll head out.” Patton finished the last few bites on his plate before standing to clean up the kitchen. 

* * *

The twins were ecstatic when hearing they were going to the park. They ran around the house to grab everything they needed to bring, making Patton’s head spin. 

Dee was not as excited, but there was a small smile on his lips watching his siblings grab their things and getting into the vehicle. Patton wasn’t sure if his eyes were tricking him, but he was positive Dee looked at him and winked. 

But Patton couldn’t focus on that. His main concern was the state of Remy’s hands. They were there yesterday morning, _so it had to have happened either at school or sometime after. But what could they have been doing to scratch their hands that badly?_

_ Wait a second.  _

_ What was Remy doing before he picked them up from the sidewalk twenty minutes away from the school? _

Patton couldn’t help but look in the rearview mirror to see Remy rubbing the back of their hand nervously. Something obviously went wrong yesterday, and Patton would get to the bottom of it. 

Patton has barely put the vehicle in park before the twins were tumbling out and sprinting for the playground, followed by an equally excited Emile. Virgil, who had slightly more impulse control, waited for Patton to turn off the vehicle before taking Logan’s hand and walking to the big tree with his sketchbook and a big blanket under his arm. 

Dee remained seated, eyeing Remy and Patton suspiciously when neither had made a move to leave. 

“It’s okay, Dee. Mr. Hart and I just need to talk.” Remy told their older brother. 

Dee did not look happy about this, but sighed and undid his seatbelt. “Come find me when you’re done, okay?”

“Sure thing, babe.” 

Dee looked back one more time before closing the door behind him and meeting up with Logan and Virgil. Patton exhaled in relief, glad Dee did not put up a fight. 

Remy undid their seatbelt and moved to the passenger seat. The two sat in silence for a few moments before Patton broke the it. 

“What happened to your hands, kiddo?”

Remy bit their lip, shrinking in on them self. “It’s not really that important, Mr. Hart. I handled it.”

Patton slowly reached out a hand, asking for their hand but allowing Remy to set the pace. Remy moved their hand so that Patton could inspect it, thumbing the light scabbing. “If you’re hurt, that is important, Remy.” Patton felt his heart skip a beat. “Was it. . . was it those boys you were with when I picked you up? Did _they_ do-“

“_No!_” Remy shouted, but quickly composed them self. “No. They didn’t do anything. This was all me.”

Patton didn’t speak for a while, simply drawing circles on the back of Remy’s hands with his thumb. With no response from Patton, Remy quickly opted to fill it. 

“There’s this tree a little past the school. Completely secluded. I use it to. . . _de stress_, I guess. I just get so. . . so angry sometimes and it just. . . comes out.” 

Patton nodded. He knew that feeling well enough. “Look at me, kiddo.” Remy reluctantly raised their gaze. Patton smiled kindly. “It’s okay that you feel this way. But doing this isn’t healthy.”

“I know.” Remy has tears pricking their eyes and Patton squished the thought of wiping them away. “I think. . . No, _I know_ I need to talk to someone about it. It’s scary thinking about it though. I mean, I’ve thought about it a lot. But there’s never been a time to bring it up with all of the nannies over the years.” A wet laugh escaped them. 

Patton hummed, sitting back in his seat. “You know, I saw a therapist for a few years in my early twenties.” At Remy’s silence, he continued. “I was really angry about a lot of things growing up. And I had no outlet to let out these icky feelings. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to talk things out.”

Remy nodded. “You think it’s a good idea.”

Patton shrugged. “It’s up to you. Sometimes therapy works for some people, and sometimes it doesn’t. But, if this is something _you_ think would help you, I’m all ears, kiddo.”

“Yeah, I think I should.” Patton saw the stress physically leave their body. “Guess I should meet up with Dee, huh?”

“We can sit here for a while if you want, Remy. There’s no rush.”

Remy closed their eyes and smiled gratefully at Patton. “Knew there was a reason you lasted so long.”

Patton snorted in response. 


	24. The Park and the People We See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The park is a good place for the twins to get rid of some energy and have some fun family time with their brothers.

The twins moved as one, almost tripping out of the vehicle before it was fully parked. They would surely receive an earful from Virgil and Dee later, but that was a problem for Future Roman and Remus. 

They made it to the swings in record time, prompting a competition between the brothers to see who could swing the highest. They kicked off at the same time, swinging in unison as they bantered back and forth. 

Emile came a little after, asking to join the twins and they, of course, agreed, because what was a competition if there wasn’t the most possible people competing?

Emile evidently had more experience then the twins, quickly catching up and surpassing the two. Remus eventually jumped off the swings, deciding to team up with Roman to defeat their older brother. 

Roman cheered wildly, pumping his legs as hard as he could to catch up with Emile, who was grinning at him every time he swung past. Remus put everything he had into his arms and the swing, trying to match Emile’s momentum. 

The twins soon grew bored of the swings; Remus took a step back so Roman could jump off the swings. Emile slowed himself down, a big smile on his face as his breathed a little harsher. 

“That was fun!” Emile wiped his hands on his pants. 

“Definitely!” The twins grinned in unison. 

“We should play tag,” Roman looked to his brothers and Remus smiled wickedly. 

“You’re It!” He shouted, tapping Emile on the shoulder before booking it in the opposite direction of Roman. 

“No fair!” Emile laughed as he ran after Roman, weaving around the swings to follow him. 

Roman was only able to evade his older brother for so long before Emile’s fingers graze his back and ran away from Roman. Said boy immediately scanned the park for Remus, spotting him crouched behind a bench and he made his move. 

Remus watched Roman approach, a challenging glint in his eyes. 

“Nowhere to run, _Ree_.” Roman taunted, circling the bench. 

Remus kept his distance. “That’s what you think, _Ro_.”

Remus sprinted away and Roman was in hot pursuit. Roman managed to tackle his brother before leaping to his feet and running towards the slide. 

Just as the fallen twin began getting to his feet, someone tapped his shoulder. 

“_Remus?_”

* * *

Remus was on his knees and made eye contact with a familiar curly haired boy. 

“Hiya, Emmet!”

Emmet giggled as Remus jumped to his feet. He recognized the bracelet on the boy’s wrist as the one matching Logan’s (who has only taken it off to shower). Emmet was in a bright green shirt and brown shorts, his eyes absolutely beaming. His shoes were a blinding red colour that reminded Remus of blood. 

“I saw you by the bench while I was on the monkey bars, though I can’t do ‘em very well, and then I knew Lo Lo had to be here too! Where is he?”

Remus smiled and ruffled the younger boy’s hair. “Logan’s sitting under that tree with our older brother Virgil.” He pointed in the right direction, feeling warmed when Emmet lit up at the sight of his friend. 

Emmet didn’t run off to greet Logan like he expected him to. Instead, he faced Remus with curiosity. “What were you playin’?”

“I’m playing tag with some of my brothers.” He turned in the direction of his twin, noticing some kids from the playground talking to him. “I think a few people are joining us.”

Emmet seemed to vibrate with excitement. “Ooo! Can I play too? And Lo Lo?”

Remus snorted at the unexpected question. “You can try asking Logan, but he doesn’t like playing a whole lot.”

Emmet crosses his arms, determination filling his eyes. “I’ll ask him and he’ll say yes. I got a _super secret_ weapon.”

Remus didn’t have time to ask what that magical device could possibly be before Emmet ran towards his friend. Remus watched in amusement as Emmet tugged on his little brother’s arm, who looked disgruntled at the contact. However, whatever Emmet pulled out of his pocket must have convinced the youngest O’Neill as he followed Emmet back to Remus. 

“Ready to play, Remus!” Emmet yelled in excitement, and Logan looked fondly at his friend. 

“Sounds good, brats.” He ruffled Logan’s hair before running away. “You’re It, Nerdling.”

He heard Emmet shriek as Logan tagged the five year old and sprinting after his brother. Remus made eye contact with Roman, yelling to the group of kids: “Emmet’s It!” before watching them all scatter. 

* * *

Roman sprinted away the minute Remus yelled who was It, determined to not become the next victim. There was a total of nine kids playing with them, and Roman felt a grin grow on his face at the thought. 

It seemed like they played for hours, Roman having only gotten tagged three times. Once by Logan, who Roman let himself be tagged because his little brother had been It for a while, and twice by Remus, because his twin knew no mercy. 

The game ended when Dee called them for lunch. Emmet hugged Logan goodbye, chirping that he’d see him “very very soon” before running out of the park. 

Mr. Hart had made sandwiches and cut up some watermelon for them, which Roman’s mouth watered at the sight. He was quick to dig in, finding a spot between Remus and Emile. 

Virgil silently held out a napkin, which Roman was going to ignore until he received a hardened look from his older brother, forcing him to surrender.

_ He’d get him to pay for this slander. Maybe. Unless Virgil fixed the rip in his prince costume, then he guessed he could forgive him. _

“So, kiddos,” Mr. Hart wiped his hands on his napkin, a familiar smile on his face. “I think we should head home after lunch. I’m sure some of you have homework to do.”

Roman frowned. He didn’t want to leave yet! He took a glance at Remus, who was also frowning at Mr. Hart’s decision. 

“_But Mr. Hart~_” the duo whined. 

“Don’t you boys need to clean your room?” Dee lifted an eyebrow in their direction and Roman sputtered indignantly. 

“Our room is as tidy as if we had royalty visiting!”

“Yeah!” Remus piped up. “You wouldn’t be able to hide a body in there.”

Dee has a pained expression on his face and didn’t look like he believed him. Roman guessed he was right to look that way, considering their room wasn’t actually clean. _But come on!_ How else were the two princes of the noble Kingdom of Creativity supposed to clean when they had to slay the fearsome dragon living in their closet?

“If your room is clean before dinner, and _everyone_ gets their homework done, I’ll make an extra special dessert.” Mr. Hart winked at the twins and Roman jumped to his feet. 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” The twins cried. “_Let’s go!_”


	25. Nightly Escapades

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton is fairly certain something is going on with Dee, but it is obviously a delicate situation. Good thing Patton has a bat.

Patton had gotten used to the O’Neill children’s idiosyncrasies. For example, Logan had a specific brand of jam he loved and could be found climbing on counters to get it for a snack, armed only with a spoon and sheer determination. Another example would be how Remy refused to drink their coffee out of anything but their signature Starbucks mug, or how Virgil always made sure he was the last to leave the house so he could check that the door is properly locked. 

However, some idiosyncrasies he never understood. Take Dee, for instance. Sure, he understood the napping in patches of sunlight or his immediate reaction to hiss when something surprised him, but the one thing he couldn’t grasp was his routine every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday after school. He always had Patton pick his siblings up but made a different excuse for why he would not be coming with them. They ranged from wanting to walk home that day to needing to talk to a teacher. They were pretty reasonable excuses, and Patton probably wouldn’t have pressed it if he didn’t know Dee. 

His attempts at asking the other O’Neill’s provided no answers. 

Logan had a possible answer. “He might have an after-school job.” Logan provided, not looking up from his book. But there weren’t any jobs in town that would hire a teen during those times during the school year. 

The twins were a little less helpful. 

“Secret girlfriend?” Roman quirked a brow at his twin. 

“Secret girlfriend.” Remus agreed, scribbling puddles of blood on his latest masterpiece.

Patton had questioned Remy about any possible romantic interests in their lives and the kid had snorted when Dee was brought up, saying “that boy is as straight as wet spaghetti, babe”. 

Emile probably wasn’t even fully listening to his questions. 

“Maybe he’s a superhero, fighting crime.” Emile was snuggled in his blankets, eyes never leaving the television. An old cartoon of Spider-Man flashed across the screen that Patton remembered watching when he was quite young. Emile briefly looked up at the nanny. “Are we having breadcrumb macaroni for dinner?”

Remy hadn’t even noticed the absence of their brother. 

“He’s not here?” Remy swivelled around as if Dee would appear just by looking in the right direction. “Well, I guess he does that sometimes.”

And Virgil only gave more questions that answers. 

“He’s- uh. . . doing stuff! Definitely no need to worry, Mr. Hart. He’ll be back safe, er, probably.”

Telling someone not to worry only increased their worry tenfold, and Patton was determined to get to the bottom of it. After all, how could he properly care for <strike>his</strike> the kiddos if he didn’t know if they needed him?

* * *

Patton first tried asking Dee what he was doing and where he was going after school on those days, but Dee promised it was none of his concern. 

“I’m almost an adult.” Dee said simply, but the smirk on his face told him he knew he was being vague on purpose. “Sometimes I just need a little freedom to explore who I truly am.”

Patton also tried following Dee, taking the vehicle filled with kids around town as he not so discreetly followed the boy. Dee ended up just heading home and glared at Patton the rest of the night. 

He debated calling the school to see if Dee was a part of any after school activities but realized that might be an invasion of privacy. 

Maybe he was slightly paranoid after learning what Remy was doing when they went off on their own after school, but could you blame him? He wanted what was best for these kiddos and to keep them safe if he could. 

He was going to leave it alone. After all, Remy had come to him on their own after he gained their trust, and Patton had certainly gained some from Dee over the past few months. It wasn’t unlikely that the teen wouldn’t come to him when he was ready. However, Patton knew he had to intervene when he realized that Dee was also sneaking out. 

The first time he thought Dee might have snuck out was just a gut feeling. Patton knew Dee kept his door unlocked for his siblings in case of emergencies. Patton woke up one night when he heard knocking in the hallway, and discovered a tearful Roman at his brother’s locked door. It was strange, but Dee was also a teenager so he probably had a good reason to want to lock his door for the odd night or two. It didn’t really matter as Patton was able to dispel Roman’s lingering fears over a cup of warm milk without waking any of the other kiddos. 

The second was when he got up in the middle of the night to grab a glass of water. When he returned up the stairs, he noticed someone swiftly rush into Virgil’s room that oddly looked like Dee in his day clothes, but Patton didn’t want to wake anyone up when it was possible nothing was wrong. 

The third time he heard a rattling noise come from Dee’s room as he walked passed it one morning on his way to make breakfast. It suspiciously sounded like a window being opened and as he listened further, there was an audible thump and muttered “shit” from the teen’s room. 

Patton knew teenagers would be teenagers. Heck, he was a teenager himself and knew all about the thrill of sneaking out in the middle of the night. But he also feared that Dee could be hanging with the wrong crowd that could hurt him. 

But Patton knew all of this was based on circumstantial evidence. He doesn’t know for sure that Dee is doing, and if the teen wasn’t going to offer any information then Patton had no way of knowing. 

He told himself this as he was getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, having been woken up from a nightmare about Dee become a gang member and selling drugs on the streets because Patton wasn’t there to help him. 

He briefly forgot about these thoughts when he heard the sound of the front door open at 2:38 am that same morning. It was storming outside like crazy; lighting, thunder, the works. It would be the perfect set up in a horror movie. Patton was a small man and had limited fighting experience. His knowledge of violence ended at being punched throughout his high school days, and he had never fought back. 

But Patton thought about the kiddos sleeping in their rooms and knew what he had to do. 

It was convenient that Roman had left his baseball bat near the top of the stairs even though Virgil had asked him to put it away. Patton have a few experimental swings when he picked it up, judging that he could probably hit the intruder hard enough to knock them unconscious or at least knock them down so he could knock them unconscious. 

He felt his heart in his throat as he carefully made it down the stairs. The light in the kitchen was on, a trail of water leading to that room, and Patton wanted to whimper or cry or scream but he refrained. 

_This is a bad idea_, Patton thought before leaping into the kitchen, bat at the ready. 

A small squeak escaped the person in front of him and Patton instantly lowered his weapon at the sight of Dee drenched from the rain. The poor boy was shivering, obviously chilled from the nasty weather outside, and was avoiding Patton’s eyes. They stood there in silence for a few seconds before Patton left to grab some towels to dry him off. When he returned, he helped the teen strip off his shirt and handed him a towel to dry off his upper body. 

Patton tried to discreetly look at Dee’s body for any sign of wounds but was grateful there was none. To be fair, he wasn’t able to see all of Dee at the moment but he was content seeing no blood or large bruises in the places he could see. 

“Want me to grab some dry clothes?” Patton whispered, still aware that they were in a sleeping household. 

Dee hesitated before nodding, and Patton hurried to the laundry room to grab a pair of clean pyjama pants and a shirt. He also grabbed some underwear he was positive were Dee’s before returning to the oldest O’Neill to give him the clothes. Patton left the kitchen once more of the teen to change before Dee called him quietly back in. Patton took the towels and soaked clothes to the laundry room, his brain running a thousand miles per second as he moved on auto-pilot. 

He heated up a glass of milk for the boy and himself before they both sat at the dining room table across from each other. 

Patton waited for Dee to speak, not wanting to pressure him into talking or give him a reason to not trust him.

Dee was staring into his mug, his eyes unfocused and a slight shiver still in his body. He took a sip and relaxed slightly, but still would not meet Patton’s gaze as he spoke. “Can we _please_ not talk about this now?”

Patton frowned, but he understood. As much as he wanted to know what was going on, getting the details in the middle of the night was not beneficial to either of them when they would not be able to quickly solve the issue, if there was one. 

“That’s okay. We do need to talk about it, though.” Patton told him softly, letting him know that he wanted to respect his boundaries but also couldn’t let the events of tonight slide. 

“Just. . . Not tonight.” Dee’s shoulders were hunched up as his hands were white with his grip on the mug. 

“Just one question and you’re free.” Dee tensed up at his words. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

Dee paused, obviously confused at his question before shaking his head. 

“Alright. You should get to bed. We can talk when you’re ready.”

Dee mumbled a good night before depositing his cup in the sink and heading off to bed. Patton was still sitting at the table as he heard the door above him click shut and Patton rubbed his eyes tiredly. 

He should go to bed. _This can be an issue for Future Patton. _


	26. Death and Other Stuff In Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emile has never felt more worse in his life. At least he has his family with him.

Emile was not a very dramatic child. _Sure_, he could get a teeny tiny bit overexcited when talking about one of his favourite cartoons, but he was usually levelheaded and liked to think every situation he encountered with a healthy of balance of logic and empathy. Emile was sure of a lot of things in life, like cartoons were for everyone and no one really enjoyed the public school system all that much. 

He was also completely and utterly sure that he was currently _dying_. 

“Oh, kiddo.” A voice cooed as an icy hand was rested on his forehead. Emile felt no shame in melting into the touch. 

He was burning and his body ached and he was shaking and everything was down right awful. Even the slightest movement on his part caused searing pain to race through his body and he was so, _so_ tired. 

He was very thankful the lights in his room were not on, because if he were to die at such a young age, at least his eyes weren’t stinging. 

“You’re not dying, kiddo.” A fond chuckle lazily drifted through the air and Emile forced himself to focus on the fingers carding through his sweat-slicked hair. “You’re just as sick as a dog right now.”

That simile never made much sense to him. _Who would ever allow something as sweet and loyal and pure as a dog feel this awful ever? Or did it have something to do with the dogs bringing sickness with them?_ He’s pretty sure Logan had told him that once. _Or was it Virgil?_

Hopefully he would be able to ask one of them for confirmation. Preferably before he died. 

* * *

The next time Emile woke up he had approximately two seconds before expelling whatever remained in his stomach onto his bed cover. He felt tears run down his cheeks as he sobbed and curled up tightly in a ball. 

He was in pain _pain painPainPAIN_!

He faintly heard the door to his room open and someone speaking to him, but trying to listen to the voice only made his head throb. The voice stopped after a few seconds and Emile was lifted into someone’s arms. He felt himself go boneless in their grasp, relaxing to the sound of someone’s heart beat that sounded way too loud._ Maybe it was his?_

He was set down somewhere else in the room. There was carpet under his fingers so he was on the floor, _right_? When he tried to open his eyes, the lights burned and he hissed as he slammed them closed. There was a rustling noise coming from somewhere in the room _(his bed, maybe?)_ but he was not willing to worsen his already poor eyesight to appease his curiosity. 

Someone was tugging on his shirt and he whimpered as he lifted his arms up. His pyjama pants were discarded next and he shivered as the cool air settled on his skin. He allowed himself to be manhandled into a new pair of pyjamas, a familiar voice narrating every movement that was made so Emile could prepare himself. 

Once finished with being dressed, he felt himself sliding down the wall to the right, and there was a laugh as someone grabbed his shoulders before he fell. “Easy there, Sunshine.”

The hands abruptly left and were replaced by someone lifting him into their arms. Emile snuggled into the arms, taking in their warmth as he was now shivering and absolutely freezing. _Did winter come early?_ He was jostled in their grasp as they took the stairs and Emile whined to show his displeasure. There was a soft apology given to him as the steps slowed down exponentially. 

Their destination of the couch was reached, and Emile was wrapped in a blanket like a burrito before being laid down. He inhaled and coughed at the strong scent of coffee infiltrating his nostrils, but it was a welcome and familiar smell. 

“Sleep it off, kiddo. I’ll come check on you at lunch.”

* * *

Emile’s eyes cracked open. His throat was dry and sore when he swallowed but his body wasn’t in as much pain as before. At least, he didn’t feel like he was dying anymore. 

He scanned the room silently, seeing Remy scrolling on his phone absently with a coffee cup in his grip. Emile let his eyes rest on him, watching the mesmerizing moments of his fingers swipe across the screen. 

He could have been staring at his older brother for five minutes or five hours. Eventually, Remy looked up and their eyes met. Remy smiled softly and rose to stand, stretching his back before shaking his shoulders out. 

“Feelin’ better, Sunshine?” His asked quietly. 

Emile opened his mouth to respond but only a small wheeze came out. He settled on nodding his head but instantly regretted it as it felt someone had taken a hammer to his skull.Remy was beside him in an instant, offering a water bottle. Emile drank greedily before sighing and resting back into the pillows. Remy rearranged the blankets around him. Emile saw a flash of a devious smile on his older brother before Remy flipped the corner of a blanket into his face. Emile tried to move his arms to get it off his face but quickly realized that his arms were trapped in the blankets. He let out a huff at his brother. When he received no response, he gave a small kick. 

Remy grinned as he moved the blanket out of his face. There was silence between the two of them before Remy stood. “I’m going to tell Mr. Hart you’re up. Are you good enough to eat something?”

Emile thought for a second. He wasn’t feeling very hungry, but his stomach wasn’t twisting itself into knots at the idea of food. “S. . . some. . . thing, s-small.”

Remy nodded and walked out of the room with a flourish. Emile blinked and suddenly Mr. Hart was filling his view. 

“Hey, kiddo.” He spoke in a soft tone that matched his smile. “I got a few crackers here and some soup if you want to try some?”

Emile slowly nodded and allowed Mr. Hart to help him into a seated position to eat. The spoon was shaking as he held it but Emile was determined to feed himself. Mr. Hart offered assistance and Emile relented after almost spilling the entire soup bowl onto the floor. 

The spoon was halfway in his mouth when he saw Dee appear from the corner of his eye. He looked like he hadn’t slept for days. His hair hasn’t been brushed and he was nervously fiddling with the cuffs of his shirt. 

Dee cleared his throat and looked away. “When you’re done with Emile, we should talk.”

There was a beat. “Sure thing, kiddo.” Mr. Hart seemed more tense but shook of Emile’s questioning looks with a smile. 

After a few more spoonfuls, Emile couldn’t stomach anymore and let Mr. Hart take the dishes back to the kitchen. He reappeared to tuck the Emile back in snuggly before leaving to meet with Dee in the dining room. 

Emile was asleep before Mr. Hart had stepped out of the room. 


	27. Who I Want to Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s time for a talk and Patton makes an offer to Dee.
> 
> It’s not as bad as you think.

He could feel the tension in the air as soon as he entered. 

It was close to choking him, but Patton didn’t allow it to show. He had his suspicion that he wasn’t doing a good job if the teen in front of him was any indication. Dee looked awful, from the rough crinkles in his clothes to the eye bags hanging under his eyes. His fingers were tapping some sort of tune as his eyes were fixed on the table. He didn’t seem to recognize that Patton had entered the room until he sat down at the table, causing the oldest O’Neill to flinch. 

“I talked to Virgil about this.” Dee started but didn’t elaborate. 

Patton sat silently, shifting in his seat but allowing Dee to set the pace of the conversation. 

“So. . . about the other night.” Dee immediately closed his mouth with a click. He sighed with a pinched expression and it tore at Patton’s heart. “It’s nothing dangerous or anything. All I’m doing is-“

He cut himself off with a laugh but there wasn’t a trace of humour in it. Patton knew he needed to take the reigns. 

“It’s alright, kiddo.” He started softly. “Just take a deep breath. I’m here for you, no matter what.”

There’s more silence. Dee audibly breathed in and out. Patton let them sit there, coexisting in the too large dining room for just two people. 

“Are you doing anything illegal?” Patton asked seriously and Dee quickly shook his head. 

“_No!_ Never! I know my limits.” Dee scratched his wrist, not meeting the nanny’s eyes. “Sandsbury is the kind of place that needs intervention. A little direction from the shadows, a little help for those who can’t help themselves. Considering the whole town is aware it’s me, or at least know what I do, they know what I’m willing to do. And I’m not exactly eager to be starting a track record that could wreck my brother’s futures.”

Patton bit his lip in contemplation. There were so many questions he had but was unsure if it was appropriate to ask them. 

He decided to risk one. “What exactly do you do? You mentioned there were rumours and I was just wondering-“

Dee nodded understandingly. He looks much more comfortable, his shoulders losing some of the tension that was there from the beginning. “Imagine, if you will, that everyone in town is connected by one thread. Every action one person makes will inevitably affect another which will affect others and so on. I use this connection for favours. I’ll do something for someone, send an anonymous letter or do a run with some packages or help with some home maintenance or even act as Karma, in a sense, in exchange so I can get something. I always do background checks on the people who ask for my services and everything is always legal. I just do the things others may not want to to benefit me in the long run.”

Dee closed his eyes and listened to Patton. Several deep breaths later, he spoke again. “I’m sure you’ve heard this name before: _Deceit_. He’s like the town’s own fairytale. He has connections and can get anything done. There’s rumours that he’s a liar and a- I guess _a villain_, if you will. There’s also rumours that he trades in deals: give him something and he will fulfill your darkest desire. And that’s. . . Well, some of that’s true, what I’m saying is that’s, uh- that’s me.”

Patton blinked. Dee blinked in response. 

Patton had heard the whispers, of course. There’s interactions on the street where the name ‘_Deceit_’ is said with an air of whimsy and slight fear. There’s the good stories. The ones about this person delivering groceries in the middle of the night on the coldest winter nights so that everyone has something to eat during the holidays. The ones about free tutoring sessions near exam season. The ones told on the playground by little kids who speak of a guardian angel who will protect them from bullies. But there’s also the stories that make everyone’s heart stop for a moment. There’s talk about an avenger who brings justice to the people who have done wrong. Rumours of secrets coming to light that have been hidden for decades. Relationships ending from the intervention of an outsider. Patton couldn’t go long without someone on the street uttering ‘_Deceit_’ with either awe or fear. 

There’s was one other question Patton had. 

“Why do you. . . do what you do, I guess?”

“I just. . . there’s _so much_ I see I can do.” Dee met Patton’s eyes head-on. “I’m a person who knows the importance of self-care. But I also know my limits and know I can do what I can to help people because. . . it’s something I want to do.”

There’s a lot of emotion in Dee’s voice. Dee continued. “It started with Virgil. He’s always been quiet and had a hard time socializing with kids his age. I was his older brother, and I really felt it was my job to be there for him. If he had bullies, I was the one that dealt with them. He didn’t go to our parents, but he could rely on me. It just grew when _others_ felt they could rely on me. And it started taking a toil on my mental health, which is when it became more give and take. I have favours for someone who can get me a job next summer at the library and one at the grocer to get discounts and numerous others I have in my back pocket for a rainy day.”

It was an extremely touching story. When Patton had first met the teen, he saw him as a very self-serving individual, unless it came to his siblings. He was fiercely protective but appeared more likely to stab you in the back of an alley to meet his own needs then to help someone which indirectly benefitted himself. It was astonishing to see this kiddo having such an awareness about himself and the world. 

“That’s really cool, kiddo.” Patton smiled and Dee let out a chuckle. 

“Thanks, Patton.”

“Although, sneaking into the house at two in the morning is pushing it, mister.”

“I respectfully disagree. . . _Unless you have a counter offer?_”

“It’s dark out and you could get hurt?”

“I’ve been doing this for a decade.”

“You might wake up your siblings.”

“They haven’t so far.”

“You’ll stress Virgil out more than need be.”

“. . . Fair enough.”


	28. I Have a Mr. Hart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan is asked to have a sleepover with his best friend, but Logan doesn’t know the first thing about them. Good thing he has Virgil!

“You should come over an’ we can have a sleepover.”

Logan blinked once. Twice. His feet landed softly on the ground. He pushed his glasses up as let the words run through his brain, then kicked off the ground once more. 

It was a foreign concept to him. ‘_Sleepover_’. Of course, in all of the fiction books and movies he has watched throughout his five years of life, the idea of a sleepover was a concept he was aware of. However, he had never practically implemented it in his life. 

A sleepover. 

“What do you mean?”

Emmie grinned wide as he kicked off the ground to go up, making Logan slowly descend. His eyes seemed to sparkle and Logan could feel his cheeks burning from the intensity of his friend’s stare. “We can have snacks an’ watch movies and play in the backyard and- and you can stay the night and have breakfast with me! It’ll be a lotta fun!”

Logan hummed to acknowledge his best friend, contemplating his request. Based on his knowledge, sleepovers were between best friends as a means to spend time together. Ideally, both parties_ (or the parties in attendance)_ would benefit via increased dopamine and serotonin release from the activities they participated in. Realistically, it was common to lose sleep and there could be other factors that add to discomfort levels if everything did not run smoothly, such as not having enough food to sustain your guests or having inadequate activities planned. 

He has never been invited to a sleepover and had no way of knowing how to properly act. Neither had Virgil, to his knowledge, so who could he ask so he could plan for this event?

Well, logically, he would ask either Roman or Emile, as they has accumulated the most data about sleepovers, but he still leaned towards going Virgil for information. At the very least, Logan knew his older brother would be willing to research with him to answer any of the questions he had towards the subject. 

_ Wasn’t Logan supposed to be doing something? _

“Well, Lo-Lo?” Emmie asked expectantly. 

Right. _He was supposed to give a response. _

“The plan sounds. . . sat-is-fact-or-y.”

Emmie smiled and carefully stepped off the seesaw. He helped Logan off pulling him to stand. “We need to ask my Mama if it’s okay, and then she can ask your Mama!”

Logan’s brow furrowed. “I don’t have a Mama.”

He had a mother, but she would be unlikely to respond. 

Emmie looked confused. “Do you have a Papa?”

Logan shook his head. Emmie’s eyes began to look wet and Logan, _with growing horror_, realized that his friend was about to start crying his Empathy Tears.

“But- But who tucks you in and reads you bedtime stories and makes you lunch and breakfast and takes you to the park?”

Well, that was easy. Dee used to do those things when he had time but Logan had pushed him off as he saw that his other siblings needed the affection more. It was only when Mr. Hart came into their household that Logan regularly got attention without having to ask for it. 

“I have a Mr. Hart.” Logan blurted out. 

Emmie sniffed and rubbed his eyes. “Can _he_ let you have a sleepover?”

Logan thought briefly about his nanny. Mr. Hart was always trying to get the O’Neill children to do the things that made them happy. _Surely a sleepover fell in that category?_

“We should ask.” Logan didn’t want to lie to his best friend. While past experience pointed to Mr. Hart’s agreement, he couldn’t be absolutely positive the outcome would be in their favour. 

“Let’s go!” Emmie cheered and pulled Logan to his feet. 

Together the pair walked away from the playground to where their respective guardians were chatting on a bench. Mr. Hart was wearing his signature cardigan with a blue polo shirt and khakis. Emmie’s ‘Mama’ has her hair tied back in a braided bun and she had a flowery skirt and black top on. Her smile was wide as she laughed at something Mr. Hart said to her. 

Emmie instantly took the lead. “Mama! Mama! Can Lo-Lo come over for a sleepover?”

She turned to the duo, her smile not as wide but still as bright. “Of course, love. We’re free this weekend.”

She looked to Mr. Hart who appeared startled at being addressed. He turned to Logan. “Whatcha say, kiddo? Wanna have a sleepover at Emmet’s house?”

“I would enjoy that im-mense-ly.” Logan nodded sagely and Mr. Hart let out his signature chuckle. 

The two adults made plans and switched phone numbers while Logan was dragged back to the seesaw by Emmie. 

* * *

Logan was calmly walking up the stairs. He _absolutely was not_ running to Virgil’s room because that was illogical and unsafe. 

Nevertheless, Logan made it to his older brother’s room in record time. Before he could knock, he heard two voices from inside. 

“-ut you lied to him!”

“Only _technically_. I am ‘_Deceit_’, but what I was doing that night was not tied to that side of me. It was necessary so that Patton would not get suspicious.”

“You’re going to get caught, Dee. We can’t afford for Mr. Hart to find out what you’re-“

“_He won’t find out!_”

Logan realized this probably wasn’t a conversation he should be listening to, so he politely stepped away from the door and sat in the hall, facing the door. 

He sat there patiently, waiting for Dee and Virgil to finish their conversation so he could talk to Virgil about a sleepover. He ran through the questions he had prepared to research. 

_ What did one bring to a sleepover? _

_ Was there certain rules that went along with it? _

_ Did he need to bring a gift for the host? _

_ What did he have to- _

The door swung open. Dee calmly shut the door behind him and rubbed a hand over his face. He turned around and jumped when his eyes landed on the smaller boy. 

“_Oh,_” he breathed and Logan tilted his head. “Did you want to talk to Virgil?”

“Yeah. I was invited to a sleepover.”

Dee smiled softly and ruffled his hair. “Sounds fun, Pocket Protector.”

Dee made his way to his own room, closing the door with a soft click. Logan rose to his feet and knocked on Virgil’s door three times. 

“Dee, I already told you, you need to-“ Virgil opened the door but cut himself off when he saw Logan. “Need something, Teach?”

Logan nodded. “May I come in?”

Virgil opened his door wider so Logan could enter. He went to his usual spot of sitting at Virgil’s desk while his older brother lounged on his bed. 

Logan did _not_ tug on his tie nervously. 

“I was invited to a sleepover.”

Logan said, then realized he had no idea how to continue. 

“That’s exciting!” Virgil got off his bed and walked to Logan’s side. “I’m sure you have some questions then?”

Logan nodded, relieved that Virgil knew what he needed without him needing to ask. Virgil booted up his laptop and picked Logan up to settle him on his lap. Together they researched the proper structure for a sleepover, and learned the ins and outs of being a guest. 

Logan pursed his lip before looking up to his older brother. “The Internet says it is po-lite to give your host a gift. What should I give Emmie?”

Virgil hummed in contemplation. Logan liked that Virgil always thought about his answers before giving them because it showed Virgil was invested in the conversation. 

“Well, Emmet made you that bracelet, right?” He gently lifted Logan’s wrist to emphasize his point. “We could make him something, too! I have some art supplies and I can help you make whatever you want.”

Logan hopped off of the shared chair and Virgil opened up his cabinets to let Logan inspect them. After a few moments of digging, Logan pulled out his idea in question. 

Virgil ruffled his hair with a fond smile. “That’s perfect! Let’s get to work.”


	29. Friday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A not so typical Friday. Lot’s of firsts for both the O’Neill’s and Patton.

Patton woke up on a Friday morning feeling awake and with his day completely planned out. The moment he entered the kitchen was when everything derailed. 

The twins, for the first time since he had known them, had woken up before he had. There was flour all over the counters, floor, and the boys, and there was a questionable substance dripping from the roof. The kitchen was just short of being on fire, and the toaster didn’t look promising. Emile had Logan on his shoulders reaching for plates on the highest shelf in the room. Patton hadn’t even known there were plates up there! Virgil was nervously pacing beside the duo, arms ready to catch the youngest O’Neill when things went awry. Remy was sitting in possibly the _only_ clean section of the counter, drinking their coffee with a smirk on their face. They gave a cheerful wave to the nanny but did not say a word. Dee was manning the frying pan, seemingly oblivious to the chaos happening around him. 

Patton yelped when the toaster dinged and toast flew in the air. 

“I got it!” Both twins screamed, scrambling with butter knives and jars in their hands. 

Remy reached to grab a slice but was promptly smacked by a spatula from Dee, who _was, _apparently, aware of his surroundings. 

“What’s all this, kiddos?” Patton asked hesitantly, debating if he should scold them for making a mess or praising them on being able to _(somewhat)_ prepare their own breakfast. 

“Tradition!” Emile smiles brightly, suddenly veering to the left and almost toppling. Virgil was quick to intervene and keep the two children and plates from crashing. 

Patton ran a mentally tally, going through all of the important dates he knew. _It was none of the kid’s birthdays, nor was it a holiday. Was there no school today? Surely not, because the twins and Remy wouldn’t have been up until ten if it was. Was there something on the school calendars that he had missed? A sort of half day or. . ._

“You’re gonna hurt yourself overthinking, babe.” Remy chuckled and leaped down from the counter gracefully. They came to Patton’s side and in a tender, quiet, most definitely _soft_ voice, told him, _“It’s Dad’s birthday today.”_

Patton felt his heart clench for a brief moment and his eyes moisten. “That’s. . . That’s really nice.” _No, he is_ not _about to start crying the second he leaves the room._ “I-I’ll be in the living room. Come get me when you’re ready for school.”

Remy nodded, a look of sorrow haunting their eyes. Patton surveyed the kitchen once more before leaving, planning out how exactly he was going to clean the disaster zone that was the kitchen. 

It was so wholesome to see this family come together and celebrate a day of sadness and loss with something happy. These kiddos sure were something, and he was proud to be in their lives. 

* * *

Patton dropped them off at school. No one talked on the way there and Dee had turned the radio off when he had entered. But the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. Far from it, actually. Everyone seemed to be at peace with the silence, reflecting on their own thoughts without feeling a need to voice them. The first sound Patton heard was from Logan when he reminded Patton that he was getting picked up by Emmet’s mother for a sleepover and he needed to pick him up tomorrow. Patton reassured the kiddo that he wouldn’t forget and let him go on his way. He also wouldn’t be forgetting how Logan had been hugging his gift to his chest like a lifeline the entire ride to the school.

He arrived home without turning the radio back on. He let himself enjoy the ride without any extra stimulation and was surprised by how calm he felt afterword. He stepped into the house and took off his shoes, bracing himself for the monstrosity that was surely waiting for him in the kitchen. 

However, he should have expected nothing less than a spotless kitchen. It was as if the O’Neill children had not been there and Patton had to laugh. Serves him right for doubting <strike>his</strike> the kids. 

After doing a quick tidy of the downstairs, Patton opened his email to review the response he got from his boss. He had inquired about the boxes in the attic and asked if he could clean it up and shift things a around. She was surprised, having completely forgotten she owned an attic, but granted Patton her blessing to revamp the attic space, claiming no one else was going to do anything with it. 

_ (There was also a not so subtle comment of how long she had employed Patton, and the fact that her children had yet to scare him off, but he readily ignored that part.) _

He returned to the attic and allowed himself to sort through the boxes. He would not be getting rid of anything; simply organizing every item so that the kiddos could decide what they wanted to do with them. Then he would be able to set everything up and get rid of the musty smell from the couch. And after that he could bring up some of the toys and make the area feel more loved and homey then it currently did. And he desperately needed a lamp.

But first things first: he needed to buy a new picture frame. 

* * *

Once Patton had dropped off all of the kiddos at home, and received a text telling him Logan had been picked up, he drove Remy to the city. 

He let the kid pick the music. They were more excited to grab the aux cord and start playing their own music then sit in the front seat, claiming they never got Music Rights in the vehicle. 

Which led to Patton questioning how often Remy sat in Dee’s designated seat in the past, if they even sat in this vehicle specifically at all. 

As they drew near to their destination, Remy turned down the music and took off their sunglasses. 

“I, uh- wanna thank you, Mr. Hart. For taking me, that is.”

Patton smoothly changed lanes. “It’s no problem, kiddo! Your well-being is important to me. Mental and physical health included.”

Remy huffed, which sounded suspiciously like a laugh but Patton chose not to comment. 

He parked the vehicle near the building and walked in with the kid. He held the door open and let Remy lead the way. They nervously glanced around the waiting area, spotting some posters on the wall with motivational quotes as well as some mental health posters. They sat down in a blue chair beside a table of magazines but they did not pick one up. Patton day beside them and gave the hand a comforting squeeze, which the teen reciprocated. 

It wasn’t long before a _“Remy O’Neill?”_ rang out into the waiting room and they stood rigidly to their feet. With an encouraging nod, Remy walked with their new therapist to an open room. 

Patton took out his phone, checking to see if Dee or Virgil had messaged him. There was a spike of fear seeing a message from Virgil _(who only texted Patton if there was an emergency/crisis)_ but it was just a request to pick up more flour seeing as they had run out this morning. 

He smiled fondly before putting his phone away. Virgil was such a considerate kid and very mindful of his actions. He always offered to help, wringing his wrists when he asked if Patton needed help and usually finding himself beside Patton as he cleaned even if it was unnecessary. Patton would gladly label the anxious teen as a sweetheart, but he did worry somewhat for him. While the other kids usually wanted to go out and do things with their school friends _(excluding Logan until the start of the school year)_ Virgil never showed interest in doing anything that wasn’t with his siblings. He was never the one to give suggestions of what they were going to do that day and typically went with what the majority voted. Patton had a strong feeling he would never leave the house if his siblings didn’t. 

_Maybe I should talk to him_, Patton thought to himself and resolved to do so tomorrow. 

* * *

Remy came out of the room exhausted and Patton empathized with them. He could remember how tired he felt after a therapy session and how he just wanted to curl up in a blanket and sleep. 

He guided Remy back to the vehicle, saying nothing more than a _‘hey’_ since they left the office and Remy instantly slumped in the front seat once they buckled in. 

Patton looked over a few minutes later to see them dozing away, small snores exhaling from their mouth. 

_ They would be just fine. _

Patton cursed as he hit a pothole.


	30. (Can’t) Leave it up to Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dee’s plan is revealed through a short POV. Virgil is the most supportive brother you could possibly find.

Dee hung up the phone with a sigh, lying on his bed and covering his eyes with his arm. He needed a few more months before his plan could be fully put to action, but he wished he could just hurry the process. 

He rolled onto his side and grabbed the framed picture on his bedside table; one of two pictures in the room. It was from years ago, when Logan had just been born. His mother had taken the photo as they arranged themselves on the couch downstairs. Dee was holding Logan in his arms, a soft look on his face as he was moving the blanket from covering the baby. Virgil was at his left side, smiling gently but genuinely. Remy was on his right, looking so wary in the child’s direction that is was almost comical. Emile was kneeling in front of Dee at such an angle that you could see a part of his face and the finger that was reaching out to stroke Logan’s tiny hand. The two twins were hanging on the back of the couch, peering over Dee’s two shoulders, looking with a mixture of curiosity and awe. 

It was the last time he had seen his mother for more than two days. Currently, it’s been a little over two years since she had been in the house, another year and a half since they video-chatted, and eight months since they last heard from her directly. 

It made him so unbelievably angry. He grew up with both parental figures in his adolescence. While his mother had been the provider of the family, with his huge international business, their father had stayed home to care for the numerous children they had. Dee was the first, and had watched his father’s love grow stronger and stronger as each new addition to the family was added. 

He didn’t blame his mother for her absence when he was younger. She was at home more often then not, back then. She was only gone on business trips, but she called during any free time she had and would sweep her children into her arms when she came home. She was a different mother then. She was a different person five years ago. 

He remembered his father vividly. How he made pancakes for everyone’s birthday and would pick them up and drop them off at school. How they went for ice cream on the first day of school to talk about their day, because Lord knows how hectic the household got with so many kids. He remembered unconditional love and kisses over bandaids and a warm glass of milk after nightmares. He remembered piggyback rides and trips to the park and family movie nights with the volume a little too loud. 

And it all ended because a semi ran a traffic light, ending the only good thing his siblings had. 

His siblings didn’t deserve this treatment, or lack there of, from their mother. And he would ensure they would get the parental support and love they needed. 

After he came of age to apply for their custody. 

* * *

Logan had gone to a friend’s house. Emile was in his room with Remy, decompressing from the day while watching cartoons and doing homework. The twins were in the yard digging up dirt.Mr. Hart was doing a grocery run to pick up essentials. While they were all absent, Dee knew there was less risk of anyone walking into Virgil’s room. 

Dee knocked three times and waited. The paint on the door had been freshly done a few months ago. He had painted it purple with black spiderwebs creeping from the corner. It was eerily gorgeous, and undeniably Virgil. The door opened quietly and Virgil stared out. He glanced down the halls in paranoia before tugging Dee into the room and locking the door behind them. 

Dee sat on his brother’s bed. Virgil joined him, fiddling with his hoodie strings. 

“What’d they say?” Virgil asked quietly, finally looking up. 

Dee sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Well, I’ve got to be eighteen, like we already knew. And while I can’t get full custody right off the bat, I can have partial custody that allows me to make decisions for them that mom was supposed to. Then I can work towards having full, maybe in another couple of years? And by then you’ll be old enough as well and you can go to your art school without having to worry.”

Virgil nodded, scrunching up his shoulders. It was a tell if Dee ever saw one. He raised an eyebrow, prodding Virgil to ask whatever questioning was plaguing him. 

“It’s just. . .” Virgil ran his fingers over his duvet, thinking deeply about his words. “Is it _really_ necessary? Now that we have Mr. Hart? I know!” Virgil raised his hands placating when Dee went to argue that yes, it was absolutely necessary. “We planned this when we had Jane, and _trust me_: I’ll still fully support you if you say this is the best option for us. But we’re not going to find another Mr. Hart if we go through with this. You know that, _right_?”

Dee glowered, trying to stop the simmering anger in his chest. It was true that Mr. Hart was the best thing to happen to this family in five years, but Dee couldn’t bring himself to leave his siblings to someone else. If he left for college or university, how could he depend on their nanny to not be like the rest of them? Or change like their mother had?

_ He couldn’t.  _

“We’re going through with this. I won’t- _I can’t_ leave anything up to chance.”

Virgil nodded, as if already expecting that answer. “It’s going to be one hell of a fight. If we’re doing this, we’re going all in.”

Dee smiled, a dangerous thing. “But of course.”


	31. A Trip Down Memory Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton has finally cleaned out the attic and is letting the kids go through the boxes.

The O’Neill children had went to the park today, which was perfect for what Patton had planned. 

He had brought some of the boxes from the attic down for the kids to go through. He had a feeling that these kids had no clue what these boxes held, and it was obvious that their mother couldn’t care less about their contents. 

He brought out a few bins so they could organize what they would be keeping, what they wanted to donate, and what they were going to throw away. He had everything set up in the living room and he had moved the table to the side so they would have room for everything. 

He had discussed this with Virgil earlier. When he had gotten Virgil alone he had appeared terrified. He relaxed significantly after Patton explained what he wanted to do, and Virgil had admitted that he was unaware they had anything left of their dad and thought it would be good if they could go through all of his old things with everyone. He also assured Patton that he would inform Dee about their plans. Patton originally had tried to talk to Dee but he had been avoiding him like the plague, forcing him to seek out Virgil instead. 

When he heard the door open, he quickly went to greet them. Virgil was helping Logan get out of his jacket while Remy was trying to get out of the way of the twin’s playful shoving match. He caught Dee’s eyes and he gave a small nod to the nanny. Patton couldn’t completely distinguish the emotions with that look, but he saw the simple message of _‘everything is fine’; _a message he usually sent Patton after they had returned from somewhere.

“Welcome back, kiddos!” Patton cheered and his heart lightened at seeing the bright smiles of Emile and the twins, as well as Remy’s signature grin. “I have something set up in the living room for you.”

The kids all made their way to the room with Patton keeping a respectful distance. Roman and Remus excitedly approached one of the boxes and pulled the top flaps open. 

Roman confusedly pulled out a big college sweater with a faded logo. “What’s this?”

Dee tenderly took the pullover from the younger boy and stared at it. His lip was curved upward but his eyes were unbearably sad. “This is dad’s old sweater from college. It’s. . . It’s where he met mom.”

The room took on a much more somber air. Virgil knelt next to the box and pulled out an atrocious looking tie. Virgil laughed as he unfurled it, revealing it to be a patchwork of clashing fabric with shaky embroidery that read _‘Best Dad’_. “Dad wore this every Father’s Day after I made it. Said it was the best present he ever got.”

Logan carefully took the tie as if it were an ancient artifact threatening to crumble under his touch. He ran his fingers over the stitching and nodded approvingly before handing it back.

Remy huffed dramatically as they dug into the box to pull out a misshapen mug. “You’re sorely mistake, babe. You can’t beat a _‘Number One Dad’_ mug.”

There was a snort of laughter from Virgil and an incredulous look from Logan, telling him he completely disagreed with Remy’s statement. Patton watched as the rest of their brothers sat on the floor by the boxes, pulling out various items and relaying a story about each. The youngest three listened attentively, having no memories of the man themselves. Patton felt like an outsider, intruding on a moment meant for a grieving family. He soundlessly exited the room so the family could have their moment. He retreated to the kitchen, trying to think of something to occupy himself. 

After looking around the kitchen he decided on making some of the kiddos favourite snacks and treats while he prepared supper. He tied on an apron and got to work, letting his mind focus solely on mixing and chopping and folding. The counters were completely covered in bowls and ingredients and trays. He had the oven working on baking cookies and brownies and he had the stovetop cooking three separate items. 

He almost forgot about what <strike>his</strike> the kids were doing. It wasn’t until Virgil came in with a handful of dishes that Patton was jolted out of his baking haze. 

Patton caught sight of the mug Remy had been holding earlier. “Want me to clean those up?”

Virgil jumped slightly, curling in on himself before nodding. “If. . . If you wouldn’t mind.” His voice was hoarse and there was a red tinge to his eyes. 

“Of course, kiddo.” Patton smiled, carefully taking the set of dishes from his hands and placing them next to the sink. He washed them slowly, taking in and memorizing all of the chips and colours and signatures adorning each thing he washed. It was obvious each article; the childish scrawl spoke of both proudness for their creation as well as love for the recipient. 

He nearly gave himself a heart attack when the mug almost slipped out of his fingers. He quickly dried the cup and set it down. He placed the other dishes to the side for the kids to decide where to put them. 

He looked at the time and began plating the meal. He set the table with utensils and the treats before untying his apron and fetching the kids for supper. 

He quietly approached the room, peering around the corner at the kids huddled on the couch. Dee was in the centre, holding open a large scrapbook. Virgil had Logan on his lap, running his fingers through the younger boy’s hair. The twins were nestled on each side of the eldest O’Neill, quietly looking at the pictures on each page. It was the quietest he had ever seen them. He looked over to Remy, who was standing behind the couch, sitting at the top and quietly interjecting every so often with their own piece. Emile was seated next to Remus, leaning on his shoulder to get a better look at the pictures. 

Patton backed away. He would give them a few more minutes. 


	32. Little Bit o’ Normal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil had been going to art club for three years and sat in the same spot every time. . . except for today.

Virgil loved art club, really, he did. 

It’s just that _he always felt a flutter of anxiety before he entered the room before every meeting and he’d always have to check his phone for the time to make sure he wasn’t too early or, God forbid, late. And when he finally walked in and sat in his usual seat, he’d pray that no one would sit beside him while simultaneously be hurt that no one did. And he was always wary about anyone walking behind him because what if they hated what he was doing and ridiculed him until he could never show his face at school again?_

But Virgil loved art club because it was time away from the chaos of the O’Neill household. He got to do something he loved where materials were in abundance and no one judged his art because it wasn’t for a grade. It was his safe space where there was no worrying about what his siblings were up to or getting their homework done or making sure everything was ready for the next day. 

When he walked in with his bag at 3:30 sharp, he was happy. It had been a whole summer without art club, and even if he didn’t quite miss the people there he certainly missed the calming atmosphere. He couldn’t wait to get started on a new-

He paused in the doorway, staring at his usual seat. The seat in the corner that was by the window. The seat that had a garbage can close by. The seat he sat in every art club, that everyone knew and respected that was his. 

It was occupied by a freshman. 

Virgil forced himself to stop staring and look for an open and empty workspace. There was nowhere in the room that matched the safe space Virgil had created the past three years. _Was it too late to leave? _

“Hey, V! Come sit with us!”

Virgil snapped his head towards the voice, recognizing him as one of his classmates. The group sitting with him had all been a part of the art club as long as Virgil had, and being in the same year meant they saw each other often. He made his way over, slowly sitting in the sole empty seat as everyone smiled and welcomed him. 

“Sorry the freshies took your seat.” The one who called him over said. Virgil thought his name was Alexander or something similar. “They won’t last long, though, so we can take it back later.”

Virgil intended to hum a non-committable sound, though it made a high pitched whine instead. He could feel his pale cheeks redden and he ducked his head. _How embarrassing!_

“So it takes someone stealing your spot for you to finally sit with us!” A girl, Annie, slapped him on the back. “We woulda stolen it sooner if we knew that!”

Virgil gave a nervous laugh, resisting the urge to pull up his hood and hide away until the sun burnt out. 

“Well, we’re really glad you’re here, V.” Another person _(Eli?)_ grinned. “It’s been three years and you haven’t hung out with your friends once.”

_Friends?_ Virgil stiffened at the word. _Were they. . . Are they implying. . ._

“We’re friends?” Virgil blurted out. 

“Of course we are!” Annie gave another hearty slap to his back. “Us art peeps gotta stick together.”

“We’ve been inviting you out for ages but you’ve always been busy,” Alexander shrugged like it was no big deal. “But we got it. You’ve got lots of little brothers to look out for.”

Virgil thought back on the past three years, analyzing every interaction he has had with this crew. 

_ “Hey, V! We’re getting shakes at the burger joint. You in?” Alexander asked, swinging an arm around his shoulders.  _

_ “I’m taking Logan to the library. Thanks though.” Virgil had quickly run away, already running behind because he had stayed to help the teacher clean up some of the paint.  _

_ “V! The arcade down town just opened up! Wanna come?” Annie jumped in front of the door, preventing Virgil from leaving.  _

_ “Sorry, I’m making dinner tonight and promised the twins to help with some math homework.” Virgil shuffled awkwardly around the girl, already running times tables and simple fractions in his mind to review for tonight.  _

_ “We’re having a sleepover this weekend at my place. You’re welcome to come.” Eli offered.  _

_ Virgil smiled apologetically, though it was more of a grimace. “I’m taking Emile and some friends to the movies tonight. Hope you have fun.” _

_ “Hey, V!” _

_ “We’re going to-“ _

_ “We were wondering-“ _

_ “Are you busy on-“ _

_ “-it’d be fun!” _

_ “-Thursday after school?” _

_ “This new place opened up on-“ _

_ “-this weekend?” _

_ “You should come with us!” _

Virgil realized only growing horror about how often they tried to pursue his friendship. This had been going on for _three years!_ He felt awful! How could he make this up to them?

“W-Well I’m free after art club if you want to do something?”

_ Stupid! Who said they would want to hang out with him now after he blew them off so many times? It was unintentional, of course, but- _

“We’d love to!” Eli’s eyes lit up at the offer. 

“Hell yeah, V! We can go to Don’s for some shakes and fries. Have you been?” 

Virgil shook his head and the trio grinned excitedly. Virgil sent off a text to Mr. Hart and Dee. He hoped he wasn’t making a mistake. 

* * *

Virgil sat in the booth across from Alexander and beside Eli. He had the window seat and they were currently talking about the new releases coming to the theatres. 

“We watched an action movie last time, Xander.” Eli huffed. “Why can’t we watch the new horror movie?”

“Only _you_ enjoy those,” Annie reached across the table to flick Eli between the eyes. She blew a few strands of blue hair out of her eyes and grinned manically. “I know! We should watch the new romance! I can have two boys on either side of me and-“

“I’m vetoing that.” Alex- _Xander_ said immediately. “Last time we went to one of those, Eli cried their eyes out.”

Eli blushed as they glowered at their friends. “They were childhood best friends to lovers who just found one another! He ran after her in the rain to kiss her after they learned she was moving away again! How does that not tug at your heartstrings?”

“You’re just soft,” Xander teased. 

“Well, what says you, V? Do you cry at movies?” Eli turned to him. 

Virgil jumped at being addressed and fiddled with his hoodie strings. “Only Disney and Pixar when it’s really sad.”

“Up?” Eli asked. 

“Up.” Virgil nodded. 

“Lion King?” 

“Lion King.”

“Inside Out?”

“Inside-“

”What part of Inside Out is-“ Xander started to interrupt.

“Alright, that’s enough depression.” Annie interjected and Virgil bit his lip to stop himself. “But if it’s Disney you’re into, we should go see the new one this weekend!”

“I’m game.” Xander said, shrugging. 

“Me too!” Eli piped up, obviously excited at the prospect of seeing a new Disney movie. 

“V?” Annie asked. 

“I don’t think I’m busy.” Virgil said slowly. “But I’ll ask.”

He sent a quick text to Mr. Hart, who responded rapidly with a no and various emojis. He also asked if he or his friends needed a ride home.

Virgil offered a ride and they all agreed. They waited outside in the sun for Mr. Hart to arrive and it was then Virgil remembered the vehicle he would be driving. 

“Uh, maybe we should start walking home.” Virgil suggested, getting weird looks from his friends. 

“Why would we-“ 

A honk cut off Xander, revealing the family vehicle in all of its glory. The bright yellow bumper sticker saying “My Kid is Terrific” with Virgil’s name on it was like a beacon for ridicule. His dad had bought one for all of the kids, including one for Logan before he was born. Virgil groaned at the sight, waiting for his friends to comment. 

“Shotgun!” Annie screeched and sprinted towards the door. 

“No fair!” Xander took off after her but she was already in the front, sticking her tongue out. 

“Sucks to suck.”

Eli giggled under their hand and took Virgil’s arm to walk to the vehicle. The three slid into the back of the van, finding various seats to situate themselves in. 

“Nice wheels, Mr V’s dad.” Xander commented. 

Both Virgil and Mr. Hart froze, staring at each other in the rear view mirror. He forgot to specify who was picking them up and now _Mr. Hart was surely embarrassed. What could he say to them to make this better? What could he-_

“Oh _no_, kiddos. I’m just the O’Neill nanny.” Mr. Hart chuckled as he quickly pulled out onto the road. 

“Sorry!” Xander apologized, no hint of shame on his features. “You just look similar. Brown hair and all.”

Virgil looked up at his hair and then to Mr. Hart’s. He could kind of see it, but they didn’t have that many similarities otherwise. Mr. Hart had blue eyes to his brown and where Mr. Hart had some muscle, Virgil could only be described as a stick.

Though, come to think of it, Mr. Hart’s glasses looked eerily similar to Logan’s. 

Each of his friends were dropped off at their respective homes. After Annie had left, Virgil slid into the front seat and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

“They seem like nice kids.” Patton commented as they made their way home. 

“They are.” Virgil said, not knowing what else he _could_ say. 

They were surprisingly nice. Well, it would be if they hadn’t thought they had been Virgil’s friend for three years. But he did feel insanely happy after hanging out with them. He almost felt. . . _normal_. 

For the first time in a long time, he looked forward to the weekend. 


	33. No Place I’d Rather Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton and the kids. That’s it. That’s the plot.

Patton was doing the dishes when Virgil approached him. 

Well, it wasn’t quite an approach. It started with Virgil standing in the doorway across from the sink. He was tapping his foot anxiously, looking at the nanny before staring at the ground. Patton assumed he was either in Virgil’s way or Virgil didn’t want to disturb him by entering the kitchen unannounced so he smiled at the kiddo and gave him a nod. 

Virgil then moved to the fridge, fiddling with his hoodie strings and seemingly wanting to ask something. He would look at him and open his mouth before snapping it closed and turning away. Patton was patient, waiting for him to speak at his own pace. 

Virgil then moved to beside the sink and picked up a drying towel to help with the dishes. They silently worked together, the occasional shift of water or the clinking of utensils lazily sounding through the air. If you listened carefully, you could also hear Remus’ shrill laughter from the backyard. When the dishes were put away and it was obvious Virgil would not be prompting the conversation, Patton spoke up. 

“What’s on your mind, kiddo?”

Virgil bit his lip, his hands disappearing into his hoodie sleeves. “I was, uh- I was just wondering if, er, I could go with my friends bowling on Sunday?”

Patton smiled. Ever since Virgil began hanging out with his new friends he had been so much happier. He seemed more confident with himself as well, taking charge in some situations with his siblings when he would normally fade into the background. Patton was proud of him. 

“Absolutely! Do you guys need a ride?”

Virgil made a hum in the back of his throat and Patton grew concerned. Virgil usually only made anxious noises when something was really bad or wrong. 

“Actually, uh, Eli has had their license for a little while and, well, they were offering to drive us and. . . is that okay?”

Virgil looked legitimately terrified at asking Patton this question so the nanny was quick to assuage his fears. “It’s not a problem! As long as you trust them then I see no issues. Do you need to give them gas money?”

Virgil looked surprised at the acceptance. “That’s. . . That’s _alright_? That _they’re driving_?”

“Well, kiddo.” Patton chuckled as he made sure he was facing the young teen. “If they passed the driving test, they can’t be an awful driver. And I know you wouldn’t get into a vehicle if they were a dangerous driver. _I trust you._”

Virgil’s mouth was opened slightly as they stared at one another. Something seemed to cross Virgil’s mind and he shook his head with a smile. “Thanks, Mr. Hart. And, uh, yeah, I should probably give them some gas money.”

Virgil quickly vacated the kitchen, mumbling quietly about what the appropriate amount of money would be for such an event. Patton let himself smile giddily at how happy and comfortable his second oldest charge was before heading to the laundry room to deal with the week’s load. 

He stopped short seeing Emile and Remy in there, shoving something into the washer. He stood there, staring at his kiddos, trying to comprehend exactly what he was looking at. 

It was a long pillow with some. . . cartoon figure on the case. They were shirtless and had an incredible six pack. They gave off a _‘bad boy vibe’,_ as Remy would probably say, and seemed to be. . . _smirking?_ There was also a large coffee stain on one side, evidently proving who this pillow and. . . _gentleman_, belonged to. 

Patton cleared his throat, causing the two kids to jump and face him. Emile immedialty moved in front of the washer, arms spread out blocking only half of what he was trying to hide. Remy’s face was bright red, obviously conflicted on whether to move in front of the washer as well or try to divert Patton’s attention. 

“Do you need help cleaning that, kiddos?” Patton asked. 

Emile looked to Remy, who sighed deeply in resignation. “If it isn’t too much trouble.”

“Of course not!” Patton immediately assured and stepped forward to take care of the mess. 

Emile moved out of the way so Patton could approach the machine, Remy’s face still a deep crimson. Not wanting to embarrass them, he quickly shed the pillow of its case and stuck it back into the washer without a second look. 

He added detergent and set the washer to the right mode before pressing start. There seemed to be a collective sigh of relief from the three as they heard the machine begin to spin. 

“Make sure when you put it in the dryer it’s on low heat.” He told Remy and they blushed impossibly darker. 

“Will do, Mr. Hart.” They sucked their head and left the room shortly after. 

Emile smiled up at Mr. Hart. “Mr. Hart? Can you sew?”

“You could say I’m _sew_ gifted at the art.” Patton responded. 

Emile giggled and grabbed his hand. “Well, my Kirby plushy has a hole in it and I was wondering if you could fix it.”

“We’ll see what I can do.”

Emile led him to his room and brought out a gigantic Kirby stuffie that Emile could barely wrap his arms around. Patton quickly saw the hole as fluff from the poor guy was leaking out behind him. 

“I’ll be _yarned_.”

Emile held him out. “Can you fix him?”

“I sure can!”

It didn’t take long to patch the pink cartoon character up. Emile gave it an experimental squeeze before thanking Patton profusely. Kirby joined the rest of Emile’s collection and Patton returned to the laundry room to start the task he intended on doing. 

Just as he finished sorting all of the clothes, two heads popped into the room. 

“Hiya, Mr. Hart!” Remus chirped. 

“We were looking for you!” Roman added. 

“What can I help you with?” Patton asked, putting away the laundry bin so it was no longer in the middle of the floor. 

The twins looked at one another, silently urging their brother to ask. Roman sighed in defeat as Remus smirked triumphantly. 

“_Remus_-“ Roman emphasized and his brother smacked his arm. “-wanted to know the next time you were going to make the marshmallow brownies.”

Patton hummed thoughtfully. “Well, if I had two little helpers who wanted to work with me, we could get it done before lunch.”

“We can help!” The twins jumped excitedly and grabbed onto Patton’s arms. 

They dragged him to the kitchen, impatiently allowing him to tie aprons on all of them before they began. 

The kitchen was a mess at the end. Flour, sugar, and cocoa powder had spilled over the counters. There was egg shells on the floor and cooking utensils scattered around the kitchen. But the kids looked so happy and eagerly helped him clean up as the brownies baked. The twins whistled the song from Snow White as they danced around the room, putting spoons and bowls and measuring cups away with a flourish. 

Patton asked them to grab their siblings for lunch and the duo made it a race to see who could reach Dee first. Patton chuckled at their antics as he prepared the meal and set the table for all to enjoy. 

After lunch and everyone enjoying a marshmallow brownie, Patton received a phone call. It was from Logan’s friend’s mother, looking for someone to watch little Emmet for a while because she got called into work and the regular sitter couldn’t make it. 

“Of course I can look after him! I’m sure Logan will be excited to spend the afternoon with his best friend.”

She sighed in relief and Patton heard the jangle of keys in her hand. _“Oh, thank you so much! I can pick him up from your place after dinner, if that’s alright?”_

“Don’t worry.” Patton assured her. “Emmet will be well taken care of.”

Patton could physically see her pacing around with a phone in hand, stressing as she gathered her things. They exchanged a few more words before hanging up. 

“Hey, Logan?” Patton called ip the stairs. 

He heard small, precise footsteps approach the stairs as the youngest O’Neill stared down at him. “Yes?”

“I need to pick up Emmet and he’s staying over for a bit. Would you like to come?”

Logan’s eyes lit up as he scrambled to his room and emerged with socks. He walked quickly down the stairs, trying his best not to bolt to the front entrance. Once he got there, he pulled both his socks and shoes on his feet. Patton grabbed his wallet and the keys before heading out. 

Logan was fidgeting in his seat the whole way there, constantly looking out the window to check how far away they were. Patton pulled into their driveway, trying to hide his laughs beneath coughs as he watched Logan begin to unbuckle his seat belt and attempt to get out of the vehicle. Patton stopped him, letting him know Emmet was coming to them and Logan sat back, a slight pout on his lips. 

“Hey, hey, hey Lo-Lo!” Emmet shouted as he jumped into the back seat. 

Logan inclined his head. “Sal-u-tations.”

“Isn’t it awesome we get to spend all day together?” Emmet clung onto Logan’s arm and Patton backed out of the driveway. 

Logan fixed his glasses with his free hand. “Tech-ni-cally speaking, it is not _‘all day’_ because-“

Patton listened for Logan ramble on, capturing the other young boy’s attention. Emmet praised his friend for being so smart and starting listing off the various activities they could do like _“reading or painting or eating snacks or watchin’ a movie or-“_

The two boys went back and forth all the way through the front door. Patton let them wander off as he went to grab the vacuum. He brought it into the living room, eyeing Dee sitting on the couch with a laptop in front of him. 

“Whatcha up to, kiddo?” Patton gazed at the screen, only catching a glimpse of a law firm before Dee firmly shut the laptop. 

“Not much.” Dee responded, picking up his things and leaving the room without another word. 

Patton left him to his privacy, plugging the vacuum into the wall to start. He smiled as the familiar sound of the machine started up. He loved working here and being with <strike>his</strike> the kiddos. There was no other place he’d rather be. 


	34. Their Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy and Dee. The Present and the Past. Will times be changing?

Remy was supposed to be having a good day. 

It was the weekend, for starters, and that meant sleep in, coffee, and therapy. 

Therapy was honestly the best thing they could have done. Their mental health had never been better and although they were exhausted after each session, there was no denying how much better they felt about them self. 

Another bonus was getting to spend an afternoon with Mr. Hart. He would take them to get chicken nuggets after a session and it was always a one on one affair. Mr. Hart also was always willing to talk about his own experience with therapy and gender, something their brothers would never truly be able to understand. 

Remy appreciated it immensely. Of course they remembered their father, and everything he had done for them and their siblings, but it was. . . _nice_ having someone like Mr. Hart in their lives. He was the father figure in the O’Neill household that was missing. He made everyone so much happier, even though they knew their siblings didn’t quite see it that way. 

Logan had a friend now when before it was just him and the nanny their mother hired. He was flourishing and actually beginning to act like a kid. Roman and Remus had an even closer relationship, both with each other and with a nanny, but there was still a bit of tension. Something at school seemed to be creating that divide and it seemed it was Roman preventing the two of them from developing a trusting relationship with Mr. Hart. Emile was more open to talking with Remy and Mr. Hart about his troubles, often in hypothetical scenarios or relating to cartoons but it was still progress. Virgil was more confident and had friends _(friends!)_ when before his only focus was his siblings. 

Dee was a different story, Remy knew. Dee wouldn’t be happy with anyone watching over his younger siblings and made his displeasure clear as day. He had seen Mr. Hart try: he tried to engage in conversations that would suit Dee’s interest, he tried including him in family outings and decisions that could normally be made by Mr. Hart alone, and he tried giving him space. None of it had worked, but Mr. Hart had yet to give up. 

All of this information was important to Remy, which is why their day turned to shit when Dee muttered a short _“Thomas”_ in their ear when they got home from therapy. 

It was a code word. One meaning it was time for a one on one talk and no one was supposed to know about it. It was named justly after they tried to keep a pet dog in the house, when they were too young and too stupid and too weak to be able to keep him.

Although utterly exhausted, Remy picked them self up and made their way to Dee’s room. 

Dee urged them to sit on the bed together and aren’t obliged. It was quiet for but a moment before Dee dropped the bombshell on them. 

“I’m taking custody of you all when I’m of age.”

Remy stared blankly for a second before laughing at the absurd proposal their brother had. “No you’re not.”

Dee’s eyes narrowed. “I am serious. Once I have custody away from mom and Mr. Hart, no one can hurt you guys again.”

“Mr. Hart isn’t hurting us,” Remy stated, but it was obvious Dee was not swayed by this fact. 

“He will. They all do in the end. You said it first: _should we wait for the inevitable and allow a stranger to dictate our lives? Evidence points to no one being able to handle our flair, so I say we toss him out._”

It was a scarily good imitation that made Remy winced. They did remember saying that but that was then! That was before they saw how cool and nice Mr. Hart was. They didn’t believe that now. 

But Dee still wanted to get rid of him. 

“Mr. Hart is the only good thing this family has.” Remy could feel their anger growing. Anger at Dee, for wanting to get rid of the only positive adult role model they’ve ever had. Anger at the past nannies, for making Dee so bitter and resentful. 

“This is not a discussion.” Dee said in the professional voice of his that made Remy want to punch something. They had to remind them self to breathe. “I’m informing you of the decision. Virgil had already agreed with me.”

Remy didn’t think that was entirely the truth. They knew Virgil often just agreed with their brothers to prevent tension and it was more likely Virgil had promised to support his decision rather than agreed to it.

“Well, you said he was just like dad.” There was grim satisfaction at seeing Dee flinch. “What changed your mind? What has Mr. Hart ever done for you to hate him so much? And don’t pull that bullshit about him being like dad. If he was like dad, you’d want him to stay. _So what is it?_”

Dee hardened his stare, but there was little emotion behind his eyes. Remy couldn’t tell what he was feeling. There was only a wall between the two. Usually the two of them saw eye to eye and were able to tell each other whatever they needed to. They could read each other like open books because someone had to keep the other in check. But something was between them now, and Remy didn’t know what. 

“I’m telling you this because we are going to have to go to a court to get it settled.” Dee completely ignored their question and Remy clenched their hands in their lap. “I will need you to give a statement wishing for you to be in my custody and that will be all.”

Remy laughed though it was hollow. There were rumours in town about a man who could get what they want with deals. The man pulled favours and did what they had to to get what they desired. The man was a business man in the shadows who completed jobs and received payment in secrets and promises. 

There was a man called _Deceit_, and Remy knew then that this was who they were looking at. 

“Why would I say that?” Remy asked, because they were curious as to how the oldest O’Neill thought he would have their support after everything they said. 

There was a grin on Dee’s face as he folded his hands nicely. “I don’t exactly need _all_ of your approval, though it would be nice. I just need the majority.” There was a brief flicker in Dee’s eyes; a momentary softness breaking through. “I’m doing this for your own good. I’m doing this for the brothers I love.”

Remy gave an involuntary shudder as dysphoria hit them. They ignored it for the time being. All Dee needed was a majority to get custody. Which meant all _Remy_ needed was a majority to stay with Mr. Hart. 

They met Dee’s eyes head on. “I’m not giving this up without a fight.”

Dee looked surprised but then nodded. It irritated Remy that Dee seemed so sure of himself, like the outcome was inevitable and Remy was a little kid trying to change fate. 

It was true that the O’Neill children used to typically go to Dee for everything they needed. Dee was used to be listened to and depended on. But that wasn’t the case anymore. 

That was in the past. And Remy was intent on keeping their present. 


	35. Take Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton can't fix all of their problems. Not if he is a part of them.

Patton wasn't sure what was going on <strike>his</strike> the kids. He can't even really tell when the shift happened, to be quite honest. 

He only realized it during supper one night, once all the kiddos had come home from school and were sitting quietly at the table. Patton followed routine, asking each of the kids about their days and engaging in one-on-one conversations with them. 

Logan had gone first, as usual, describing how he and Emmet went bug hunting at recess. He gave off numerous facts about bumblebees, which was what the two boys had followed for a grand majority of their break, and told him how he and Emmet traded their snacks at snack time.

Remus and Roman shared a look and gave a basic overview of their school day. Ever since Patton had talked to them when they had that massive fight, neither had been eager to talk about school very much. He tried not to press the issue too often, but he was assured time and time again that the twins were fine; they just didn't do anything exciting.

Emile was next, regaling about a Bill Nye video they watched in science class about planets. He gave an enthusiastic rendition of the theme song before telling everyone what he had learned. Logan was especially interested in this topic, bouncing in his seat and a smile on his face as he waited for a chance to contribute.

Then came Remy and everything plummeted.

"I went to Starbucks at lunch," Remy grinned but their eyes did not reflect the happy smile. "Virgil came with me, too, because he is such a great older brother."

Patton loved it when the kids were so open with their affection for their siblings. It reminded him of how family should be and his heart always felt light when seeing it. However, he was confused when Dee's knuckles slowly grew white from clenching his fork. He looked to Virgil to see if he could decipher what was wrong but the teen was staring resolutely at his plate.

"Well, Virgil came with me to pick up some essentials from the store." Dee mentioned nonchalantly, but his hard gaze never left Remy. "He is truly a great help."

Emile seemed to pick up on the tension an plastered a giant smile on his face. Patton could see how forced the gesture was but couldn't say anything before Emile started talking. "Well, Virgil, what did you do today?"

The teen had perfectly captured the deer in the headlights look. He squeezed his right hand between his legs as he shoveled a bite into his mouth, promptly choking. Patton quickly came to his side to rub his back as Virgil coughed, a few stray tears sliding down his cheeks. Once he was properly breathing, Virgil took a tentative sip of water.

"W's fine." Virgil mumbled, cradling the cup in his hands, his shoulders hunched.

Patton felt a tendril of worry creep into his chest. Even after several moments of silence, Virgil remained quiet.

Remus cleared his throat. "Well, after that illegitimate conversation-"

"Ill-um-in-ating." Logan corrected.

"Illustrating." Remus fired back.

"Ill-uminating."

"Illegal."

Logan huffed good-naturedly as Remus ruffled his hair.

Remus turned back to address the table. "Roman and I want to see the new superhero movie this weekend."

"Oh! Is it Captain-" Patton started but was cut off by two voices.

"I'll take them."

Remy and Dee glowered at one another.

"Don't worry, Remy." Dee smiled in a way that resembled an animal baring its fangs. "I know how busy your life can get. And don't you have therapy this weekend?"

Remy's muscles tensed but otherwise showed no other outward reaction. "Oh, babe. I will always make time for my baby bros. But don't you have to meet with the school councilor soon? You can't keep avoiding it." 

"Wait, you have a meeting with-" Patton turned to the eldest O'Neill but was ignored entirely.

Dee's teeth grinded together. "That meeting can be postponed. This movie is evidently important to the twins."

"I'm sure the boys don't want you to put your future on hold." Remy gave a meaningful look. "I mean, seriously, hun, you won't always be with us."

Remy had definitely hit a nerve in Dee as said teen rose to his feet, his eyes blazing in anger and frustration. It didn't escape Patton that the twins had gravitated towards each other, holding hands underneath the table to comfort each other. Emile was eyes flitted to Virgil as if trying to ask a silent question. Virgil was unresponsive, however, having gone incredibly pale as the argument had escalated. Logan had his hands over his ears and eyes squeezed shut, slightly rocking in his seat.

Patton couldn't let this continue. "That's enough."

The statement was level and controlled, no hint of danger coming from his voice. It did nothing to stop the two siblings from shouting at one another. Patton took one last look at the terrified kids at the table, knowing he had to separate the two groups before things became physical.

He turned to Virgil, knowing he wouldn't be able to get a word in between the two fighting teens. "Virgil. Hey, buddy, can you listen to me?" He made a conscious effort to remain soft even though he felt like he was back in high school. He smiled reassuringly when Virgil made eye contact with the nanny. "I need you to take your siblings upstairs. Can you do that?"

Patton knew the best way to calm Virgil down was by giving him a simple task so he could regain his bearings. It allowed Virgil to refocus on his own terms and get out of a situation that was worsening his state. Virgil let in a gulping breath but seemed more focused. "I can. . . I can do that."

Virgil carefully rose from his seat and collected his siblings, all while Remy and Dee remained oblivious to their siblings fear. Emile was quick to follow with the twins right on his heels. Virgil spoke quietly to the youngest brother while scooping him up into his arms. Virgil looked over his shoulder before quietly shutting the door behind them. 

Patton let in a deep breath to ground himself. He knew the worst thing he could possibly do is yell to get their attention. He could turn the situation on him very quickly and he didn't want either of them to react fearfully like their siblings had. There was obvious trauma in this household that would need to be addressed but now wasn't the time to bring that up.

"Hey." His voice was firm but betrayed no emotion. There was a second of silence in the shouting as Patton's voice registered in their minds and he took full advantage. "Both of you need to calm down. This will not solve whatever issue you two are having."

Dee was the first to notice his siblings absence. "Where are they?"

"They went upstairs so you two can calm down." 

Remy had bitten their lip so hard it drew blood. Dee looked absolutely stricken by the implications of what had just happened.

Patton gestured to the chairs. "Let's talk this out nicely. Shouting doesn't help anyone."

There was a beat where Patton genuinely believed they would go back to their shouting match and completely ignore what Patton said. However, Remy took the advice and sat back down in their chair. Dee reluctantly did the same.

"Okay," Patton gave a shaky smile to the pair. "Let's start with what started the argument. Do either of you want to explain?"

The silence was heavy between the two and Patton knew with absolute certainty that the conversation would not progress with him here. He excused himself, promising to be in the living room if they needed him. Their relief at his exit was obvious and he tried not to feel hurt. He thought that he had gained some trust from the two, enough that they would let him help them work out their issues, but he knew it was selfish to think that. The most he could do is be ready for when they were ready to share, if they ever would.

Patton settled himself on the couch, staring blankly at the television. He couldn't hear their voices so he knew the situation was fine for now.

His head shot up when he heard shuffling footsteps come toward him. Virgil peered around the corner, his eyes landing on the nanny and showed evident relief. He slowly approached him and Patton opened his arms. Virgil didn't hesitate to fall into them.

And let out a heart-wrenching sob.


	36. Flip a Coin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Roman and Remus Angst Hour.

Roman and Remus usually agreed on a lot of things.

Don't get them wrong, when it comes to ice cream flavors and favorite classes and best Disney movie, they will each defend their choices to the grave. Roman will swear the only valid color is the rainbow whilst Remus says you can never go wrong with blood red. Roman would willing eat a sock if it meant you would agree that dogs are superior to cats and Remus would eat _two_ socks to make you agree to the opposite. Each will try to convince you that their way is the better way, even if you get the same result at the end. 

But when it really comes down to it, when it comes to do or die, now or never, speak now or forever hold your peace, the twins will stand together on their decisions.

_(This first happened when their Mom wanted to give them two separate rooms. They had tied their tiny wrists together with a shoelace and refused to be separated for anything, including bath time. They had outlasted their mother who eventually dropped the subject, knowing this was not the hill she wanted to die on. This happened again when their baby brother Logan was born, but you already know that story. Both boys were resolute in sharing a room as well as wanting nothing to do with the youngest O'Neill, and they stood by each other the entire time.)_

Roman always had his brother's back and Remus would stop at nothing to ensure his brother's happiness. They were two sides of the same coin, and that was the key: the _same_ coin. 

Remus never thought there would come a time where they wouldn't agree on something important. Roman never thought he would be standing on the opposing side of his brother.

* * *

Remus knew it would be a rough day as soon as Saturday came.

He was still apprehensive of going to that movie after the fight that had ensued between two of his older brothers. Even more so, now, knowing that both of them were taking them.

And, well, yeah, he still wanted to _go_, of course, considering he and Roman hadn't gone out together in _forever_, but he just kept remembering the yelling and the shouting and _the yelling and the shouting and the yelling and the-_

"Ready to go?" Remy asked, holding the front door open.

Remus shook his head like a dog before following Roman and Dee. Remy slammed the door and Remus couldn't help but flinch from the loud _loud loud_ noise. He quickly came to Roman's side, seeping in the familiar and comforting presence. His twin grabbed his hand without prompting and together they walked down the sidewalk.

The one problem with a sidewalk, in Remus' not so humble opinion, was the fact that not everyone could walk side by side. It could usually fit two or three people at a time, so as long as you had an even number of people you were golden. It was when people decided to break that unspoken rule that issues arise. Remus hated those kinds of people _<strike>(he knew how it felt being the odd one out)</strike>_.

Everything was going fine at the beginning. Dee was leading and Remy was behind the twins, creating a sort of diamond shape. Usually the two older boys would walk together but after that argument a few days ago, he could understand why they weren't walking together. It was jarring, however, when Dee started to slow down an walk beside the twins. Remus cast a quick glance over his shoulder and physically saw the tension in Remy's shoulders.

"So, I was thinking we could get some ice cream after watching the movie." Dee said conversationally and Remus was immediately suspicious. 

They _never_ got ice cream unless it was a special occasion.

Roman shot a look at Remus, a mirror of Remus' own disbelief. They only got ice cream when something good or important happened, like the first day of school. Remus knew there wasn't a "good" reason for ice cream this time and he was scared to know what was "important" enough to warrant ice cream with just the four of them. There was also an unspoken question between the twins: _do we leave this alone?_

Well, ice cream was ice cream, so they decided to let it be.

Roman and Remus took turns counting cars _(Roman the red, Remus the blue)_ while Remy walked behind the three of them. Dee seemed to walk straighter after saying they would get ice cream after the movie and Remus vaguely wondered why he was in such a good mood. While Dee seemed more. . . happy wasn't the right word but he seemed brighter, lighter on his feet and not like he was carrying the weight of three dead bodies. Remy's mood, on the other hand, seemed to decline more and more with every step the O'Neill's took; he seemed heavier, like every step was weighed down by anvils. There was something wrong between the two but neither were willing to let the others know what. It started with Virgil, where they seemed to be fighting for his approval over something. Virgil, being Virgil, could not make a decision due to not wanting to let either side down. It was suffocating, the tension of the situation and the fact that Remus_ didn't know_ what the situation was exactly.

No words were exchanged between the two older boys and the feeling of dread continued to fill Remus and _fill Remus and fill Remus and-_

"We're here!" Roman cheered a little too loudly.

Remus eyed the old movie theater looming over them. It was an old building, but the old couple that owned it had renovated it beautifully with old movie posters and comfy couches rather than chairs. _(There was a lot of old things here and Remus loved every bit of it)._ It was an important part of the community and the O'Neill family were regulars at the building. He remembered how excited Emile was to come here every Saturday, dragging their dad to the counter to buy tickets while the rest of them were led by Dee to the snack table. They always watched a kid's movie _(Disney or Pixar, if one was out)_ so that everyone could watch. Remus always sat between their dad and Roman, happily sharing his popcorn with his brother.

The last time they went to the movies as a family was three years ago, where Virgil took them for a Christmas gift that year. He can't exactly remember what they watched, but he'll never forget the awe in Logan's toddler eyes at seeing a movie on a gigantic screen. He was talking about it for months after, enamored by the technology that was needed to create such a thing, babbling on and on to anyone who would take the time to listen _(and, let's be real, none of them even _thought_ about ignoring him)_.

Remy took the twins in each of his hands and faced Dee. "You get tickets and I'll get us snacks, okay, babe?"

There was an undecipherable look that crossed Dee's features but it was quickly schooled into a neutral slate. He nodded once before making his way to the ticket counter, already pulling his wallet out as he approached. Remus's skin was itching and he scratched at it, only stopping once Roman gently pried his hand away and held it.

Remy led the twins to get snacks, getting his own wallet out. He smiled mischievously to the twins and lowered his voice, lifting his sunglasses up. "I'll let you get whatever you want. Our little secret, mkay?" He punctuated the whisper with a wink. 

Well, first of all, it wouldn't be a secret for long considering Dee was coming into the movie with them. Second, this was another thing that _never_ happened. When they went to the movies, they were usually only allowed one item for a snack and a drink. Remus was entirely suspicious of his older siblings behavior, but he wasn't one to pass up this golden opportunity presented to him. He and Roman each got a bag of popcorn (large), a drink, and three packages of candy each.

The boys walked together into their directed theatre. Remus moved to sit next to Roman, jumping into the plush seat and spilling some of his popcorn. Remy sat on his right and Dee sat on Roman's left. The twins immediately attacked their popcorn as the trailers played, oblivious to the heated glares the two older siblings shot each other.

Just before the final trailer played, Remy leaned over to Remus's ear.

"Hey, babe. How would you feel about Mr. Hart taking care of us all the time?"

Remus furrowed his brow, confused. _Isn't that what Mr. Hart already did? He cooked and cleaned and drove and hugged and laughed and played and sewed and-_

"Dee doesn't want him to stay," Remy continued, his voice barely above a whisper. "But I think Mr. Hart is the best nanny we've ever had. He really cares about us and I think everyone should get a say on whether they want him here with us."

Remus glanced over at his older brother. Dee wanted to. . . _get rid of Mr. Hart?_ Did the nanny do something? It was rare that anyone was alone with Mr. Hart, considering how large their family was, but maybe. . . But no. Dee would have told everyone what had happened; he wouldn't hide the truth if someone else was at risk of getting hurt. So why did he. . .? Well, Mr. Hart couldn't have hurt someone because Remy wanted to keep the nanny around. At least now it made sense why Dee and Remy were at each others throats the other day, and why Virgil was caught between the two of them.

But did _he_ want Mr. Hart to stay?

He wasn't the worst nanny to be in their house. <strike>(Remus idly touched the scar running under his eye.)</strike> He did seem to care about them and he had never seen Logan so responsive to one of their caretakers before. And Virgil seemed so much happier then when he was anxious all the time.

Remus kind of remembers his dad. He was funny and caring and made really good rainbow sugar cookies. He sang Disney songs off key as he danced around the house and had a blinding smile whenever he crouched down to talk to one of them. He could hold both Roman and Remus on his shoulders and was always willing to play the Dragonwitch when they played.

If anything, Mr. Hart was just like him. And Remus missed him so so so so so so so much.

He loved and missed and loved and missed _and loved and missed_ his dad, but nothing was going to bring him back _(they had tried sacrificing Logan but that hadn't worked)_. They had Mr. Hart now and, for Remus, that was more than enough.

"I want him to stay."

* * *

"I want him to go."

Roman saw Dee nod seriously as he sat back in his chair. His lips were curved upwards at the edges and Roman was just grateful someone else felt the same as him. The lights dimmed and Roman followed Dee, finishing up the last of his popcorn before the opening credits could start.

There was something about Mr. Hart that didn't sit right with him. His heart felt funny and his stomach twisted every time he saw him with Remus, making him laugh and grin like dad used to.

Roman had really connected with their mom. She was beautiful and confident and everything Roman wanted to be. She knew what she wanted with life and Roman admired her strength. Remus, on the other hand, had followed their dad around the house since they could walk. He often had a hand clinging to his pant leg when he was cooking on the stove and Remus would squeal every time their dad twirled him in the air and kissed his cheek. Remus would cry if their dad didn't tuck him in and would refuse to eat if their dad didn't put the food on his plate.

Roman could never get over how devastated Remus was when their dad died. A part of Remus died alongside their dad. It was evident that Remus would cling onto anyone that resembled their dad <strike>_(like that terrible, awful lady)_</strike> and Roman won't make the same mistake twice. Roman was born an hour before his twin. He was the one supposed to protect him. He was the one responsible for his twin's happiness and safety. He won't let _anyone_ hurt him.

_Ever._

After the movie, Dee walked beside Roman and Remy walked beside Remus to get ice cream. It was a peaceful silence and Roman hadn't felt so relaxed in a while. The one thing Roman admired about Dee was his strong devotion to his family. He was always on their side and willing to so anything to keep them safe. He was the oldest and used this power to make sure everything was as it should be.

He knew Remus would agree with him. After what happened with the eleventh nanny, Remus would know how important it was to not let anyone in. 

He waited until Dee and Remy went off together to get their ice cream while the twins made their way to their regular booth. They shuffled in side by side, sinking into the comfy and familiar seats.

"Dee told me he wants to get rid of Mr. Hart." Roman started. "I think we should."

Remus sat up straight, eyes narrowed. "What? Why?"

Roman waved his hand in the air. "Well, Miss. Akaira-"

"We don't talk about her." Remus took a dark tone as his fingers dug into his own arm. It was a harmful tic his twin had developed but he knew trying to grab his hands would do nothing.

Roman quickly backtracked. "Sorry, sorry. But Mr. Hart is very nice."

Remus gave Roman an incredulous look, which was undeserved, _thank you very much_. "Yeah, which is _good_."

"Yeah, but. . ." Roman floundered for words. Usually it wasn't so hard to talk to Remus. "We thought that about _her_ too."

Remus looked indescribably angry. The tips of his ears turned red and and his cheeks puffed out. "Mr. Hart isn't like her."

It was shouted and several heads turned their way. Dee and Remy glanced over in concern but the twins waved them off. 

"He's like dad." Remus admitted and his voice sounds oh so broken and Roman's heart _hurts_.

"It's fake." Roman snapped though instantly regretted it when his twin flinched back. Did Remus think. . ? Well, Roman was just doing what was right. He couldn't let Remus build this fantasy about Mr. Hart. He can admit that he liked Mr. Hart a lot, but the icky feeling whenever he was with Remus only continued to grow. Roman just couldn't believe his twin was falling for this. . . _act_ their nanny was putting on.

The same thing happened with Miss. Akaira. She came to their house with smiles and cookies and pretty jewelry. After the numerous nannies that had harmed them the second they stepped into the house, it was refreshing to have someone who genuinely seemed to like them. She did everything their dad did and Remus was absolutely at her every call. Roman was quick to join, seeing as how happy his brother was with the new nanny. It started simple enough: helping clean or cook, bringing various things to her as she worked. It was fun feeling useful. It became a game as to who could complete a task faster. They pretended their were noble knights helping their Queen run her kingdom.

Then she started asking for a little more, and a little more, and then a lot more. Soon, as the two boys were home alone with her, they were doing her job as she lazed upon the couch, a cigarette in her mouth. The smell was suffocating and the boys usually hid in their room after doing whatever she ordered them to. They would bring Logan with them, playing quietly with him as to not enact her wrath. None of their siblings ever caught on. They would come home and the house was clean and their little brothers were playing in their room. All seemed well and no one questioned it.

Until one day they were a little too loud for Miss. Akaira. Logan was a little fussy and neither of the twins could find his star blanket that dad had gotten him. It was very soft and the galaxy on it was life-like. Logan loved the thing and refused to sleep without it. But it wasn't where it usually was and Miss. Akaira had stormed up the stairs after a few minutes, screaming at them to knock it off. Remus had quietly mumbled that they couldn't find the blanket and they would be quieter _they were so sorry._

Neither saw the hit coming. She first smacked Remus and he went flying. There was a crash as something heavy fell over _(thankfully not on Remus)_ but Roman couldn't stop staring, couldn't look away at what he was seeing. Roman couldn't comprehend seeing his brother crumbled on the floor, holding his hand over his right eye. He was then falling towards him and he felt his eye sting. He suddenly remembered the ring she had on her hand. The cut instantly stung and both were just so terrified to move. Logan was screeching and Roman was praying he would shut up for just a few seconds. She looked as if he would be her next target and the twins would be helpless to stop it.

Roman would never know why she changed her mind. She gave a final sneer and spun on her heel, leaving the three of them to cry.

Dee came home and found them still lying there. Logan had long since tired himself out and fell asleep in his crib but neither of them had the strength to move. They later found out she had broken into one of their safes and taken a hefty amount of cash. Dee had been livid and Remus had been mute for weeks. Nothing anyone did could get him back to his old self. The only time they would see a flicker of emotion was when he was holding Logan and even then it was only the release of tension in his shoulders.

They got hurt trusting the first "nice" person coming into their lives. Roman wouldn't let that happen again.

"You're wrong! Mr. Hart isn't fake!" Remus scooted out of the booth and quickly made his way to Remy's side.

He tugged on Remy's jacket and with a quick nod they gathered their ice cream and left. Dee had come back to the table, sitting across from the smaller boy. Roman's vision was a little blurry but he refused to cry. Mom didn't cry!

Dee sighed heavily as he pushed Roman's ice cream bowl towards him. "What happened?"

Roman stabbed his ice cream with the spoon, watching it disappear into the creamy center before pulling it out again. "Remus wants to keep Mr. Hart, but it doesn't make sense! Remus and I never disagree."

Dee snorted. "I wouldn't say _never_."

Roman knew Dee wouldn't understand. He and Remus were together in everything. They did everything together and always had each others back.

<strike> _(Did Roman push him away too much at school? Was this his fault that they had drifted away so much? Or did- no.)_ </strike>

Roman knew who was to blame. This all started because of one person, and they had to go.


	37. Hello, My Name is Second Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's sad sad times with the boys.
> 
> And I guess some happy times, maybe?

The door slammed against the wall as it was thrown open.

Logan's head shot up towards the sound from where he had been reading a book about the solar system at the dining table. He gave an apprehensive look towards Patton and he dutifully gave a reassuring smile in return. Dee, Remy, and the twins had gone out to see the new superhero movie and Virgil had gone out with his friends to go bowling, so one of the groups had to be back.

Judging from the sound of someone angrily taking off their shoes, Patton was going to go with the former. Virgil wasn't one to typically show his anger outwardly.

He was proven correct when Remus' streak of grey hair caught the corner of his eye. The boy was rubbing his eyes as he stomped to the fridge and threw the door open. Patton and Logan caught each others eye and for a second the nanny believed Logan was going to say something. Maybe ask how his older brother was feeling or if they wanted to talk. However, he was sorely mistaken when the youngest O'Neill returned to his book as if to say, _"You're on your own"._

Well, Patton would! Do this on his own, he meant.

"Hey, kiddo." Patton carefully approached Remus.

Remus slammed the door closed and took an angry chomp out of a carrot, glaring at Patton. He was obviously trying to distract himself form whatever he was feeling, considering he hated raw carrots with a passion. His eyes were still teary, and Patton resisted the urge to scoop him into his arms and never let go.

"What's wrong?"

Remus' bottom lip trembled before full blown sobs racked his tiny body. Patton forgot about not picking the eight-year-old up and before he knew it his arms were full of the crying child. Patton rubbed his back while humming, carrying him to his room to both let him cry in privacy and also stop Logan from looking like he was seconds away from having the floor swallow him up.

He briefly wondered where the other three O'Neill's were. His question was partly answered when he saw Remy enter Emile's room. They shared a nod with the nanny before retreating to the cartoon sanctuary that was their younger brother's room. Patton made a mental note to talk to them later about what happened to make Remus so distraught. Dee and Roman were nowhere in sight but Patton knew Dee was likely watching over the other twin. He could only hope Dee would be able to say something that would remedy the strain between the twins like Patton was going to attempt to do.

Patton took them to his room, knowing that if Remus was this upset then Roman was probably in a similar state and might want to be in their shared room when he came back with Dee. Remus' fingers curled tightly into Patton's cardigan, his sobs returning to the silent tears soaking into his shoulder. Patton made sure to lock the door behind him so they would not be interrupted. 

He sat Remus on his bed and draped one of his blankets around his shoulders. He instantly sunk into the feeling, tension seeping out of his shoulders as he laid against his pillows. Remus took deep breathes, his fingers clutching the fabric in his hands and letting go rhythmically.

The last time Patton had seen Remus so distraught was when he had that fight with Roman, and he was certain something had happened between the two brothers again. Patton could see how close their bond was; not that he could understand it, really, but he knew how much they meant to each other and how much they depended on each other when facing tough situations. He could only thin, of the one time that the twins did not have agree with one another on an issue, and even then, they were quick to make up after only half a day.

Patton sat but Remus' feet before speaking. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Remus sniffed, curling in on himself a little further. "Don' wanna make you sad."

Patton jolted slightly in surprise at the words but recovered quickly enough with a quiet chuckle. "I won't be sad, kiddo. You can tell me anything."

Well, that wasn’t necessarily true, but Patton was the adult, and he knew when the keep his emotions in check.

Remus bit his bottom lip, his fingernails scratching his arms and small red lines formed. Before Patton could move to stop him, Remus quietly said, "Dee an' Roman want you to go, but I don't!" Remus shot up, his hands flinging up in the air. Patton's heart stuttered as Remus went on. "You're the best and really nice and awesome and make really good brownies and play with us and take us to school and you can't go, Mr. Hart! You can't! Promise you won't!"

Patton felt a wave of conflicting emotions surge through him. He had thought. . . Well, he had thought he was getting somewhere with Dee, gaining some of his trust, breaking down some of his walls. _Evidently not_, Patton thought, a little disheartened. But what also stuck out to him was Remus' sincere tone, the pleading for him not to go. He may not have made much headway with Dee, but he did make a connection with the other O'Neill children. Remy came to him a lot more after starting therapy. Virgil looked all the more happier after making friends and was a lot more confident in asking Patton for things. Emile loved talking to him about cartoons and dragging him to the couch to watch them with him even when his other siblings were available. Even Logan would ask for Patton specifically to take him to the library. _(Well, only if Virgil wasn’t available, but Patton was okay with being his second choice.)_

It hurt, knowing Dee and Roman wanted him to leave, but he couldn't make a decision like this knowing that some of them wanted him to stay. He respected Dee's feelings on the matter, always have, but before he believed his siblings had similar sentiments. Now, he knew that some of them actually liked him, wanted him to stay, felt he made a difference in their lives, he couldn't just offer to leave knowing only some of the kiddos would want that outcome. 

Patton looked to Remus, who was nervously picking at the blanket. 

"You can't leave." Remus reiterated, though much more quietly.

Patton gave a small, sad smile. "I can't promise anything, kiddo. But as long as some of you want me here then I'll do my best to stay.”

The sound of the door slamming open echoed up to where they were sitting.

“I can hide you in my closet.” Remus said, a hint of desperation in his voice. “Then Dee can’t ever make you go.”

Patton’s heart lightened at Remus’, _admittedly poor_, plan. “I can’t just hide from my problems, kiddo. I still have to make dinner, after all.” Patton appreciated the sentiment, but oddly enough, he was comforted just by the fact that not everyone in the family wanted him gone. Patton had always believed in putting the children first when doing his job, and while having two conflicting sides about Patton’s presence made this exponentially harder, Patton knew that if some of the kiddos still needed him he wouldn’t be able to turn his back on them.

Remus gave another pleading look towards the nanny. Patton softly ruffled the child’s hair before standing, extending his palm towards him.

“You want to come help me?” Patton offered, knowing Remus would be worried about what would happen when they went downstairs.

Remus bit his lip, weighing his options. After a few seconds of internal debate, he grabbed out for Patton’s much larger hand and jumped off the bed.

“I’ll protect you.” He said solemnly and Patton resisted the urge to snort.

“Thanks, kiddo.”


	38. Everything is Fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emile's arc has not quite been resolved, and I'm sorry for dragging this out.

Emile is _fine_.

Emile is fine because he is watching one of his favourite shows in his room. He is fine because his homework is done. He is fine because Virgil has never looked happier. He is fine because Logan is much more confident. He is fine because the twins have never been closer.

Emile is fine. _Everything_ is fine.

Everything is fine even though he overheard his friends talk about meeting at the arcade in the city this weekend and they didn’t think to invite Emile. Everything is fine even though when they met up at lunch and he tried to ask about the arcade his voice was lost as Tyler started talking about his new gaming system and Mason was asking to come over and everyone else chimed in. Everything is fine even though he was forgotten like usual.

And it was fine when Emile finally got to ask about the arcade and his friends all looked at each other guiltily before telling him they forgot to invite him but it was too late because there wasn’t enough room in Mason’s mom’s vehicle. And it was fine when they told him that they invited Caleb before him, even though _he_ had been their friend since _kindergarten_ and Caleb had only joined the friend group last year. And it was fine when Emile told them he could probably get Mr. Hart to drive him to the city and they told him they were actually going to eat out after the arcade at this one restaurant you had to make reservations so he wouldn’t be able to come there.

_Everything is fine._

Emile clutched the red blanket draped over his shoulders in his hands, forcing himself not to cry. He doesn’t need to cry. Crying didn’t solve problems and there’s no point in crying because this happens all the time so, really, he should expect this now.

He didn’t need to be included because they were still friends whether they hung out outside of school or not. His friends still appreciated him regardless.

_ <strike>(It just really, really, really hurt.)</strike> _

He and Logan were the only ones to stay home today with Mr. Hart. He had somehow made it through breakfast with eating everything on his plate and asked if he could watch cartoons in his room, a usual request Emile made on the weekends. Mr. Hart had smiled his usual, kind-hearted smile and nodded his head and Emile quickly made his retreat.

And now here he was, sitting on his bed and hiding under a blanket. He blankly wondered when everyone would be returning home.

He wanted Remy to be here to make him feel better. It was a selfish feeling, he knew, but Remy just had a way of picking Emile’s mood up. Remy could just wrap Emile up in a hug and Emile could take in his cologne and everything just melted away. Remy knew just what to say to make Emile relax and give him a new perspective on any situation.

Emile sighed, pulling the blanket tighter to his body.

Time seemed to move much quicker than Emile thought. It seemed like it was no time at all before he was being called down to supper. It took a second for Mr. Hart’s voice to register in his mind, and another to hear him ask if Emile was okay.

Which he was! _Perfectly_ _fine!_ And he told Mr. Hart so.

Emile pushed the blanket off his shoulders and stretched numbly. He yawned as he stared at the screen, jumping a little when he saw that some teenagers and their dog were unmasking a vampire. He rubbed his eyes, thinking his eyes were tricking him. _Wasn’t he just watching a cat and mouse duo?_

He must have blanked for a while then. That was fine, not scary at all.

<strike> _(But in the back part of his brain, Emile knew that the scariest thing about that was he was unsure how many shows he had watched until that point.)_ </strike>

Emile ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to tame it slightly after it had been flattened by the blanket for the past many hours. After leaving his bedroom, he stepped into one of the bathrooms to check his hair in a mirror. Deeming himself acceptable, he made his way to the dining room.

Dee and Roman were sitting on one side of the table while Remy, Remus, and Logan were sitting on the other. No one was talking and no one was eating their food. Emile paused in the doorway at the sight, his mind utterly blank except for one stray thought.

_Why was Remus sitting in Virgil’s seat?_

“Hey there!” Mr. Hart greeted, walking in with two plates.

Emile hurried to a seat beside Dee, not missing Dee’s back straighten but also not knowing why he did so. Mr. Hart laid down his plate in front of Emile as he passed to sit at the head of the table. Emile noticed the narrowed glares the twins were shooting as well as the smug look Remy cast Dee’s way. Logan appeared deep in thought, frowning at his plate as he absentmindedly pushed the food around his plate.

Emile scooped a bite into his mouth, barely tasting it at all. The dining room was completely silent other than the scraping of forks on the plates.

He barely registered the sound of Dee clearing his throat.

“Emile. How was your day?” Dee asked, placing his fork down and folding his hands in front of him.

“It was great!” Was Emile’s reflex answer.

He was fine and happy. He was happy and fine. _As always._

“That’s good,” Dee commented, and Emile had a feeling that any positive response Dee received would have warranted that answer. Silence filled the room for a few seconds before Dee continued speaking. “You see, we had a bit of a family discussion before you came down and you are the deciding vote.”

Emile’s heart dropped to his stomach at that knowledge. That didn’t sound like he was deciding what they were having for dessert or what family movie they were going to watch after dinner.

He paused in his eating, letting his wrist rest on the table. “What about?”

“Some of us believe it would be in the best interest of all if Patton were to be let go. We want to know if you want to get rid of Patton.”

Emile blinked slowly, letting the words slowly swirl in his brain. He quickly grabbed another bite to give an excuse not to speak right away.

_Get rid of. . . Mr. Hart?_

He looked at Remy and then to Dee. The he looked from Roman to Logan and Remus. Finally, his eyes landed on Mr. Hart.

“Bu. . . But why?” Emile asked, lowering his fork to his plate.

_What brought this on? Why did half of his brothers want to get rid of Mr. Hart and the other wanted him to stay?_ Emile had yet to have a negative interaction with their nanny and this whole conversation didn’t make any sense. He doubted Mr. Hart had done anything bad, and if something had happened, _why are they having this conversation in front of Mr. Hart?_

“-and, of course, we can’t forget about-“

“Wait!” Emile pulled his hand up and waved them, effectively cutting off the oldest O’Neill. Emile knew he was not in the right mind space to be having this conversation. He could hardly keep track of anything happening right now, his mind whirling in an attempt to understand why this conversation was happening in the first place and _why Dee was adamant about getting rid of him and why Logan was pulling on his tie and why Remus and Roman were angry with each other and why Remy’s fists were clenched so hard they were white and. . . and. . ._ “What about Virgil? Shouldn’t he be here too?”

Dee furrowed his brow in confusion at the sudden turn in conversation. “Virgil is out bowling with his friends and texted me that he would be staying the night at Eli’s house.”

“Virgil texted Mr. Hart.” Remy interjected and Dee glowered.

Emile’s throat tightened at the stand off between his two older brothers. He didn’t understand what was happening. Usually all of the O’Neill brothers were on the same page. There was never such a division over a nanny that created so much tension between the siblings. Emile knew this was the time for him to speak up but he couldn’t.

Emile felt conflicted on what he should do or say. Dee was the oldest, and so far, the wisest, of the O’Neill’s. He never steered the family wrong and Emile had depended on him numerous times to sort out a problem. He had taken care of the family for years now and it felt, somehow, wrong to disagree with him right now.

And then there was Remy, who Emile was arguably closest to. He knew Emile the best of out his brothers and was the easiest to talk about. He was easy going and didn’t have the same intimidating aura that Dee gave off. Remy wasn’t in a position of higher authority like Dee was, and willing to keep secrets if asked, which made him dependable. And by the look he was giving Emile, he was depending him to agree with Remy.

“Emile.” Remus said seriously, leaning forward. “We can’t get rid of Mr. Hart. He makes cookies and gives us head pats and reads bedtime stories and-“

“_No!_” Roman banged the table with his fists. “We can’t trust him! We can’t wait for him to turn out like her! Right, Emile?”

“W-W-Well, I think we should, you know, w-wait for V-Virgil.” Emile pushed his plate back and stood up from the table. There wasn’t a lot of air in the room so he felt he should leave so there was a lot more for the others. _Yeah, yeah, that sounded good._

“Emile, where are you going?” Remy asked, a hint of concern in his voice, and Emile felt his shoulders hike up to his ears.

“I. . . I just need. . .” He took a step back. “We s-should wait for Virgil.”

Mr. Hart got to his feet and slowly approached Emile. “Hey, kiddo. How ‘bout we step out a take a breather, alright?”

“You don’t have to go with him!” Dee practically leaped to his feet, moving to grab Emile’s shoulder. “I’ll take him.”

“No, I think you’ve done enough.” Remy also rose to his feet and grabbed Dee’s wrist. “I’ll go with him.”

Emile, in all honesty, didn’t want anyone to come with him. But if it came down a decision between the two. . .

“I’ll go with Mr. Hart.” Emile whispered, stepping towards the nanny.

Mr. Hart smiled and followed Emile to the living room, leaving behind the two older boys. Emile practically collapsed onto the couch, feeling like he was out of breath, like he was wheezing.

The sounds coming from his mouth informed him he was, in fact, wheezing.

Mr. Hart kneeled in front of him. “Can I touch you, kiddo?”

Emile nodded, letting Mr. Hart take his smaller hands in his own.

“Okay. Do you know the 4-7-8 breathing exercise?”

Emile hoped he gave some form of an answer but wouldn’t be surprised if all Mr. Hart heard was more intense wheezing.

“That’s good! Can you breathe in while I count on the back of your hand?”

Emile took a shaky breath in, focusing solely on the small taps Mr. Hart applied to the back of his hand. It took a few tries to get through the breathing exercise, but Emile was slowly losing the crackly sound in his throat. Mr. Hart gave soft affirmations each time he got through a cycle and Emile slowly rested his gaze on Mr. Hart’s face rather than their hands.

“Do you know what just happened?” Mr. Hart asked and Emile didn’t know if he could answer.

Of course, he knew. He had seen Virgil lose his breath in a similar fashion. He had seen Dee help him breathe and had learned how to help Virgil when that happened. He had worked with Remy to look up different tricks to help their older brother and was often in charge of watching the younger brothers so Remy and Dee could help Virgil. He had-

“-to go back?”

Emile squeezed Mr. Hart’s hands in alarm. “I-I don’t want you to go!”

Mr. Hart blinked once, twice, before giving a small laugh. “No, no, kiddo. I was asking if you wanted to go back into the dining room to finish eating. We can go together.”

Emile hesitated, still holding onto Mr. Hart’s hands. The nanny didn’t move to stand, which encouraged Emile to speak. “I don’t want. . . I don’t want that to happen again.”

“Do you wanna talk about what triggered it?” Mr. Hart asked earnestly, and Emile knew Mr. Hart would listen better than anyone else at the moment.

Emile bit his lip. “Everyone was just. . . it was just a lot. Everyone was talking and being angry and then I had to give my vote when I didn’t even know what was going on. I don’t want them to be angry at each other and I didn’t know what to say to make them happy again.”

Mr. Hart rose from the floor released the smaller boy’s hands. Emile’s heart skipped a beat, worrying the nanny was leaving him after all. It turned out that the man was just moving to sit on the couch.

“Well, it wasn’t very fair to push that on you, huh?” Emile nodded and Mr. Hart continued. “I think you did the best you could do. You told them you wanted to wait for Virgil because you felt uncomfortable answering. I’m sure if you told your si- brothers they would apologize. They were probably very caught up in their argument they didn’t take the time to notice how you were feeling, but I know they would never willingly want to put you in that position.”

Emile hummed in acknowledgement. Mr. Hart was right, of course. His brothers loved him and, now that they had been separated for a bit, they would be able to listen to what he was saying.

“Let’s go back,” Emile said.

Mr. Hart smiled encouragingly and, again, followed Emile to their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm going to advertise the Discord: https://discord.gg/T9jqmqA 
> 
> I love chatting with you guys!!
> 
> And if you want to reach out to me some other way, here are alternative ways:
> 
> Insta: __inspirante
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> Hope everyone is having a lovely time!!

**Author's Note:**

> There's a discord if anyone is interested: https://discord.gg/T9jqmqA

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Look or Look Away](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26601226) by [MelodiRead](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodiRead/pseuds/MelodiRead)
  * [Not This Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27970676) by [RemyNeedsTherapy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RemyNeedsTherapy/pseuds/RemyNeedsTherapy)
  * [Christmas Time is Finally Here! I Hope](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28255296) by [RemyNeedsTherapy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RemyNeedsTherapy/pseuds/RemyNeedsTherapy)


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